GBP/JPY turns upside down below 216.00 after Japan Katayama’s intervention

The GBP/JPY pair surrenders its entire early gains after posting an intraday high of 216.60 and turns negative to near 215.60, as the Japanese Yen (JPY) strengthens after a strong verbal warning of intervention by Japan’s Finance Minister (FM) Satsuki Katayama.

Japanese Yen Price Today

The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the US Dollar.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.08%	-0.15%	-0.34%	-0.11%	-0.25%	-0.25%	-0.26%
EUR	0.08%		-0.04%	-0.26%	-0.04%	-0.16%	-0.15%	-0.16%
GBP	0.15%	0.04%		-0.19%	0.00%	-0.11%	-0.10%	-0.12%
JPY	0.34%	0.26%	0.19%		0.19%	0.07%	0.02%	0.02%
CAD	0.11%	0.04%	-0.01%	-0.19%		-0.14%	-0.16%	-0.15%
AUD	0.25%	0.16%	0.11%	-0.07%	0.14%		0.00%	0.00%
NZD	0.25%	0.15%	0.10%	-0.02%	0.16%	-0.01%		-0.01%
CHF	0.26%	0.16%	0.12%	-0.02%	0.15%	-0.01%	0.00%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).

According to a report from Reuters, Japan’s FM Katayama said during the European trade on Thursday that they are moving closer to taking decisive action in the foreign exchange markets.

The Asia-Pacific currency has remained under pressure despite the Bank of Japan (BoJ) keeping the door open for further monetary policy tightening this year. On Tuesday, the BoJ held interest rates unchanged at 0.75%, as expected, and guided that the monetary policy path will remain gradually upwards.

Meanwhile, the Pound Sterling (GBP) reflects a mixed performance against its major currency peers ahead of the Bank of England’s (BoE) monetary policy announcement at 11:00 GMT. The BoE is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 3.75% for the third time in a row, with an 8-1 majority.

BoE Chief Economist Huw Pill is expected to be the one Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member voting for an interest rate hike, as he expressed the need to tighten monetary conditions, in an event this month, stressing the need to contain rising price pressures. The BoE needs to make decisions that give “the most insurance” against a repeat of the 2022 inflation shock, Pill argued, warning against a “wait and see approach,” Bloomberg reported.

Economic Indicator

BoE MPC Vote Rate Hike

Interest rates are set by the Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The MPC sets an interest rate it judges will enable the BoE’s inflation target to be met. It is comprised of nine members – the Governor, the three Deputy Governors, the Bank’s Chief Economist and four external members appointed directly by the Chancellor. Investors look at each member’s vote in order to seek cues over how unanimous was the decision on interest rates.