Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the Japanese yen traded lower against the U.S. dollar after Japan’s weaker-than-expected inflation data

Economic calendar (GMT0):

04:30    Japan                    All Industry Activity Index, m/m            February             +1.0%  -0.5%    -1.1%

08:00    Switzerland            SNB Chairman Jordan Speaks                                                 

08:30    United Kingdom      Retail Sales (MoM)                                March                 +1.7%  -0.4%    +0.1%

08:30    United Kingdom      Retail Sales (YoY)                                 March                 +3.7%  +3.8%   +4.2%

08:30    United Kingdom      BBA Mortgage Approvals                      March                  47.6      48.9       45.9

The U.S. dollar declined against the most major currencies. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have a negative influence. Investors are concerned that an escalation of the Ukraine crisis is imminent. They also concerned the USA will be increasingly involved in the Ukraine crisis and that will burden the U.S. economy

Stock markets in Australia and New Zealand were closed for the public holiday. There were no significant price movements.

The Japanese yen traded lower against the U.S. dollar after the inflation data publication. Tokyo Consumer Price Index rose 1.3% in April. It is the same increase as in the previous month. Tokyo CPI excluding fresh food climbed 2.7% in April from 1.0% in March. The rise of CPI did not meet the expectations. Analysts forecasted the increase of 2.7%.

National Consumer Price Index improved from the previous month. The index climbed 1.6% in March (February: 1.5%). National CPI excluding fresh food did not meet the expectations. The index was up 1.3%, expected the rise of 1.4%.

Investors think that the Japan’s inflation will decline later this year. If it actually happens, the Bank of Japan could trigger new easing action. But the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is convinced Japan’s inflation is on a path to reach the target of 2.0%.

EUR/USD: the currency pair climbed to $1.3835

GBP/USD: the currency pair was up to $1.6810

USD/JPY: the currency pair rose to Y102.50

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

13:43    U.S.                       Services PMI (Preliminary)                                                     April      55.3      56.2      

13:55    U.S.                       Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (Finally)           April      82.6      83.2