Asian session: The yen touched a four-month low

05:00 Japan BoJ monthly economic report November

The yen touched a four-month low as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he’ll do his utmost to restrict a rise in long-term yields. The yen isn’t “excessively weak” Kuroda said in parliament today in Tokyo. Inflation will hit the BOJ’s 2 percent target in the latter half of the central bank’s two-year time frame and policy makers will adjust its bond-buying program as needed, he said. The BOJ yesterday kept its pledge to expand the monetary base by as much as 70 trillion yen ($693 billion) a year.

The euro reached a four-year high versus the yen before European Central Bank officials including President Mario Draghi speak today. The 17-nation currency rose yesterday after the ECB’s Draghi said policy makers haven’t changed their mind on a negative deposit rate since they cut the benchmark borrowing cost to a record on Nov. 7. He is scheduled to speak again today as are ECB Governing Council member Jens Weidmann and Executive Board member Peter Praet.

Australia’s dollar is set to match its longest run of weekly declines against the greenback in seven years amid concern the nation’s central bank will act to weaken the currency. Stevens said yesterday that the Aussie was above levels he’d expect in the medium-term and intervention can be effective as long as it’s “judiciously used in the right circumstances.”

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $ 1.3460-85

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $ 1.6175-00

USD / JPY: on Asian session the pair traded in the range of Y101.00-35

Friday is another full day on both sides of the Atlantic, with a solid mix of both data and central bank speakers. The European data calendar gets underway at 0700GMT, when the German detailed third quarter GDP data will be released. At 0830GMT, 0830/0330 ECB President Mario Draghi will give a speech to the EBC, in F'furt. There will probably be little new from Draghi following his speech in Berlin on Thursday. At 0900GMT, the main European data release crosses the wires, when the Nov IFO business climate index is set for release. At 0900GMT, the Italian Sept retail sales numbers will be released, with expectations of a 0.1% rise on month. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble will deliver a speech to EBC, in Ffurt at 1045GMT. There is an extraordinary meeting of Eurogroup FinMins, set for midday GMT in Brussels. At the same time, German Chancellor Merkel and Greek PM Samaras will deliver a joint press conference, in Berlin. At 1400GMT, Belgium's Nov BNB business survey will cross the wires. At 1530GMT, ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet will sit on a Paris panel discussing the financial future of Europe. Kansas City Fed President Esther George will give a speech on bank supervision at a Bank of France conference in Paris, starting at 1345GMT. In the US, the data calendar gets underway at 1500GMT, with the release of the September JOLTS, the October BLS State Unemployment numbers and the third quarter E-Commerce numbers. The November Kansas City Fed Production data will be released at 1600GMT. Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo will deliver a speech on shadow banking to Economic Policy Institute in Washington, starting at 1715GMT. The last US data will be released at 2000GMT, when the November Treasury Allotments numbers will be published.