USD/JPY: Sentiment improved as does the dollar

The USD/JPY pair surged to 106.22, its highest for this week, as central banks take desperate measures in an attempt to stabilize markets and cool down panic, Valeria Bednarik from FXStreet reports.

Key quotes 

“Sentiment improved Thursday temporarily after the NY Fed offered $500 Bln in a three-month repo operation to counter the coronavirus-related crisis. Also, the Fed announced it would pump up to $1.5 trillion into the financial system, also meant to palliate the crisis.” 

“The BoJ proceeded with an unscheduled buying of  ¥200 billion Japanese Government Bonds during Asian trading hours, after injecting earlier ¥500 billion into the system via a repo operation. By the end of the session, the central bank bought another ¥101.4B ETF.”

“Japan released the January Tertiary Industry Index, which rose by 0.8% in the month, missing the market’s expectation of 1.2%. The US will publish the preliminary estimate of the March Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, foreseen at 95 from 101 previously.”