EUR/JPY stuck around 137.30 ahead of ECB’s Lagarde, Germany HICP eyed

• EUR/JPY oscillates in a 48-pips range as investors see Germany's HICP stable at 7.8%.
• The ECB may accelerate its interest rates after concluding the APP.
• The BOJ will keep on deploying liquidity to spurt aggregate demand.

The EUR/JPY pair is displaying back and forth moves in a narrow range of 137.03-137.51 in the Asian session. On a broader note, the cross is oscillating in a tad wide range of 136.59-138.32 over the last two weeks. It looks like the market participants are waiting for a potential trigger that could bring a meaningful move in the asset.

The euro bulls are awaiting the speech from European Central Bank (ECB)’s President Christine Lagarde, which will provide some clues over the interest rate decision by the ECB next month. It seems that ECB Lagarde will dictate over concluding the Asset Purchase Program (APP) this year. The ECB could elevate its interest rate only after concluding its APP program. The central bank needs to deploy all quantitative measures to address galloping inflation. Also, the comments from ECB’s Lagarde over the chances of stagflation due to the Ukraine crisis will be important to look after.

Apart from ECB’s Lagarde speech, Germany’s Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) will remain in focus. The yearly HICP is expected to land at 7.8%, in line with the prior figure. A higher-than-expected figure could weaken the shared currency bulls.

On the Japanese front, commitment to an ultra-loose monetary policy is still haunting the yen bulls. Japan’s economy has yet not reached its pre-pandemic levels. Therefore, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will keep on deploying stimulus to spurt the aggregate demand.