Yen Falls Against Everything on Negative Credit Rating Outlook

The Japanese yen declined against every other Forex-traded currency, including the depreciating US dollar today as the country’s sovereign debt rating outlook was revised by one of the major rating agencies.

The Japanese currency managed to fall from the monthly high against the greenback and traded near 30-month low against the Swiss franc today after the Standard & Poor’s decided to alter the outlook for the Japan’s government credit rating from “stable” to “negative”. The rating itself remains at “AA-” — the fourth highest grade possible.

The main reason for the credit rating outlook downgrade is the potential problems for Japan to rebuild after the strongest earthquake that hit the country in March. The good thing for Japan is that this outlook change will help them to depreciate the national currency and hence restore the export-aimed economy.

USD/JPY rose from 81.59 to 82.23 as of 10:58 GMT today, it was reaching as low as 81.26 (the lowest level since March 25) during the early trading session. EUR/JPY went up from 119.49 to 120.63, while GBP/JPY rallied from 134.49 to 136.28.

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