Japanese Central Bank officials' remarks boost expectations of interest rate hike, and the yen strengthened in early trading

Jinshi data, February 6th, news, the speech of Takashi Tamura, a member of the Japanese Central Bank’s deliberation committee, boosted the prospect of further interest rate hikes, and the yen strengthened against other G10 currencies and Asian currencies in early trading. Takashi Tamura said it is necessary to raise the interest rate to at least around 1% in the second half of fiscal year 2025, and the neutral interest rate may be at least around 1%. At last month’s meeting, the Japanese Central Bank raised the policy interest rate from around 0.25% to around 0.5%. The dollar fell 0.4% against the yen to 151.99, touching a low of 151.83, the lowest intraday level since December 12 last year.