EUR/JPY continues four-day winning streak as ECB-BoJ policy divergence widens

• EUR/JPY has maintained its four-day winning spell and has climbed to 154.71.
• IMF has advised that the ECB needs the support of lower fiscal spending to scale down inflationary pressures.
• BoJ Ueda conveyed that inflationary pressures in Japan are driven by higher costs and external factors.

The EUR/JPY pair has continued its four-day winning streak after climbing above Thursday’s high at 153.69. The cross has extended its perpendicular north-side momentum to 154.71 as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has continued its ultra-dovish policy stance and the European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 4% as expected by the market participants.

On Thursday, ECB President Christine Lagarde delivered hawkish guidance citing that one more interest rate hike is appropriate in July. Also, ECB Lagarde remained doors open for further rate hikes beyond July as core inflation in Eurozone is extremely persistent.

Meanwhile, "Monetary policy must continue to tighten to bring inflation to target in a timely manner, said a commentary by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Also, IMF has urged nations to cut fiscal spending for increasing the efficiency of the monetary policy by the ECB.

A statement has come from German Finance Minister Christian Lindner "We need common rules that are the same for everyone. We need a reliable path to lower deficits and also to lower debt levels overall, as reported by Reuters.

On the Eurozone’s economic front, Q1 Labor Cost has jumped to 5.0% vs. the estimates of 3.3% but lower than the prior release of 5.6%. Higher payouts to individuals might keep demand pressures elevated.

The Japanese Yen is facing an immense sell-off as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) didn’t alter its interest rate policy to keep the momentum of monetary stimulus intact. BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda conveyed that inflationary pressures in Japan are driven by higher cost and external factors and a steady 2% inflation demands support from higher wages and domestic demand.