Japanese Yen Falls, Failing to Profit from Positive Data

Macroeconomic data released in Japan today was good, but the Japanese yen fell nevertheless. It looks like market participants continued to eschew currencies perceived to be a safe haven.
The Tokyo core Consumer Price Index rose 0.7% in June from a year ago, accelerating from 0.5% in May and beating market expectations of a 0.6% growth. The unemployment rate unexpectedly edged down from 2.5% in April to 2.2% in May. Industrial production fell 0.2% in May from the previous month (seasonally adjusted), demonstrating a rate of decline that was far slower than analysts had predicted — 1.1%. Housing starts rose by 1.3% in May instead of falling by 5.9% as forecasts had promised. The Consumer Confidence Index was little changed at 43.7 in June, matching expectations.
USD/JPY rose from 110.47 to 110.85 as of 19:33 GMT today. EUR/JPY soared from 127.90 to 129.33, trading near the highest level since June 14. GBP/JPY climbed from 144.47 to 146.20.

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