USD\/JPY was steady near 159.60 in early Asian trade on Friday, with likely thinner volumes due to the Good Friday holiday. Markets were also waiting for the US March Nonfarm Payrolls report due later on Friday.<\/p>\n
Middle East tensions supported the US Dollar and pushed oil prices higher. US military action near Tehran and responses from Iran added to risk concerns that can affect demand for the Dollar and Yen.<\/p>\n
US tariff plans may limit further US Dollar gains. The Trump administration is considering tariffs of up to 100% on certain imported medicines from companies that do not reach deals in the coming months, and the measure would apply to patented drugs made in countries without US tariff deals and without most-favoured-nation pricing agreements.<\/p>\n
The Japanese Yen may find support from the risk of official action in currency markets. Japan\u2019s top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, said authorities may take \u201cdecisive\u201d steps if speculative moves continue, and Bank of Japan officials have warned policy may be adjusted if Yen weakness persists.<\/p>\n
Around this time last year, we saw USD\/JPY hovering just under the 160 level, with the market on edge about potential intervention. Tensions in the Middle East were supporting the dollar, while tariff threats and warnings from Japanese officials were creating uncertainty. This set the stage for a volatile period.<\/p>\n
Those warnings from Japanese authorities in 2025 proved to be serious. We saw Japan spend a record \u00a59.79 trillion on yen-buying intervention in April and May of 2025, which temporarily pushed the pair lower. The market is now acutely aware that even though officials are quiet, the 160-165 range is an active defense zone for them.<\/p>\n
Despite that past action, the core reason for yen weakness persists due to the wide interest rate gap. The U.S. 10-year yield is currently holding around 4.1%, while Japan\u2019s is only near 0.9%, making carry trades that favor the dollar highly profitable. Recent data shows that as of March 2026, speculative net short positions against the yen remain near multi-year highs.<\/p>\n
With the pair now testing the 162.50 mark, we should expect implied volatility in currency options to climb in the coming weeks. Traders should consider buying strategies like one-month straddles or strangles. This allows profiting from a large price swing, whether it’s a sharp drop from intervention or a surge higher from strong U.S. economic data.<\/p>\n
While the specific tariff concerns from the Trump administration we saw in 2025 have shifted, geopolitical risk remains a key factor. Persistent instability in global hotspots continues to provide a floor for the U.S. Dollar as a safe-haven currency. This creates a conflicted market where the dollar is supported by global risk, but the yen is supported by intervention risk.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" USD\/JPY holds near 159.60 amid thin holiday trade; NFP awaited; Middle East risks, tariffs, intervention support Yen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":17052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}