The USD/JPY Exchange Rate Falls Below 150 Yen... Yen Value Hits Highest in a Month

The yen-to-dollar exchange rate fell below 150 yen on the 29th, marking the highest level in a month.

At around 1:20 PM that day, the yen-dollar exchange rate was hovering around 149.9 yen. During the session, it briefly dropped to about 149.8 yen.

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The yen-dollar exchange rate falling to the 149 yen level is the first time in about a month since the end of October. A decline in the dollar-to-yen exchange rate means an appreciation of the yen. The yen had fallen to 156 yen per dollar in mid-month.

Foreign media analyzed that the yen's value rose due to increased capital flows into safe-haven assets following recent warnings by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump about raising tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, coupled with growing expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will raise interest rates again in December.

On the same day, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan announced that the core Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Tokyo's 23 wards in November rose 2.2% year-on-year, an increase from the 1.8% rise in October.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun analyzed that as expectations strengthened for the BOJ to raise interest rates at the December monetary policy meeting, yen buying and dollar selling movements spread in anticipation of a narrowing U.S.-Japan interest rate gap. It also assessed that the rise in Tokyo's CPI contributed to this trend.