USD/JPY PUSHES UP TO WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE OF 152.000, ANALYSTS BULLISH

• USD/JPY rises up to within a hair’s breadth of 152.000 after comments from BoJ governor Ueda. 
• His views suggest the BoJ is not in a hurry to raise interest rates, reducing the attractiveness of the Yen.
• Analysts are bullish USD/JPY despite the threat of intervention as US-Japan interest rates continue to diverge. 

USD/JPY is edging higher into the 101.90s on Tuesday. The latest move comes after a speech by the Governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) Kazuo Ueda in which he suggested that any future interest rate hikes – a key FX-market driver – would be highly dependent on incoming data. 

Prior to his comments, views had been mixed about the likelihood of the BoJ hiking interest rates in the future. Some analysts say more interest-rate hikes as a done deal given that core inflation in Japan has remained above the BoJ’s target of 2.0% for 23 consecutive months. 

Others have remained more circumspect, pointing to the fact that in Japan where deflation has ravaged for decades, inflation is actually seen as a positive and something to be fostered. In his speech Ueda seemed to validate those who expect the BoJ to keep interest rates indefinitely low, by introducing doubt about the imminence of future hikes