Asian session: The yen strengthened

The yen strengthened versus most of its 16 major counterparts and pared a weekly decline versus the dollar, after BOJ officials kept the bank’s asset-purchase fund, its main policy tool amid near-zero rates, unchanged. The BOJ said today in a statement that its bond-buying program will remain at 55 trillion yen ($702 billion). The outcome was expected by all 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Officials will next meet on Oct. 30.

Today’s meeting was attended by Japanese Economy Minister Seiji Maehara, the first minister to do so for over nine years. Maehara said he went to the BOJ to express his concern about yen appreciation and prolonged deflation.

The euro was 0.1 percent from a two-week high after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank is ready to start buying government bonds as part of a program to help ease borrowing costs for debt-ridden nations in the region. ECB President Draghi said yesterday the bank is ready to undertake Outright Monetary Transactions “once all the prerequisites are in place.” He spoke at a press conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, after policy makers left the benchmark rate at a historic low of 0.75 percent. The plan has “helped to alleviate tensions over the past few weeks” and “now it’s really in the hands of governments,” he said.

The dollar slid versus most of its major peers this week on prospects the Federal Reserve will continue measures supporting growth even as employment data is forecast to indicate improvement. In the U.S., payrolls rose by 115,000 in September, up from 96,000 in the prior month, the Labor Department may report today, according to the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The jobless rate is estimated at 8.2 percent, compared with 8.1 percent in August.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $1.3010-20.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $1.6180-95.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell to Y78.25.