Asian session: The yen was supported after minutes of the BOJ’s October meeting

The yen was supported after minutes of the BOJ’s October meeting published today showed one member said it was ``highly uncertain'' whether inflation would rise toward the 2 percent target. Central bank board member Sayuri Shirai proposed adding “attention should be paid to the downside risks” to the bank’s outlook report as “there was a high degree of uncertainty regarding developments in overseas economies and households’ employment and income situation,” the BOJ minutes showed.

The euro strengthened after China’s central bank governor said the currency is important to his nation’s reserve management. European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen, who has said negative deposit rates are a possible tool, will speak today. He said on Nov. 23 he wouldn’t fundamentally exclude setting a negative deposit rate and that the central bank will continue to act if necessary to ensure price stability. Council member Ardo Hansson said in an interview in Tallinn on Nov. 22 that the Frankfurt-based central bank’s “options on rate cuts are still not fully exhausted and there are all kinds of other measures that are still on the table.”

Australia’s dollar rose after Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Philip Lowe said the bar for intervention is high. “We don’t rule intervention in or out, that’s been a long-standing practice,” the RBA’s Lowe said in response to an audience question following a speech in Sydney today. “In the past, we have been prepared to intervene in the currency market when it’s clear the currency was misaligned or the market wasn’t working well. The threshold for intervention though is fairly high.”

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.3540

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose is trading around the level of $ 1.6160

USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair fell to Y101.30

Although there is a fairly full calendar Tuesday, particularly in the US, data is largely second tier. The European calendar kicks off at 0745GMT, when the French October housing starts and building permits data are released. At 0900GMT, the Italian November ISTAT consumer confidence data will cross the wires. Analysts see confidence coming in at 97.5, up from 97.3 in October.