Forex: USD/JPY – Yen pressured by increasing USD demand

iNVEZZ.com Wednesday July 17th: The US dollar has pushed higher against the yen today, with the pair rising to an intraday high at 99.83 so far in European trading, after opening in Asia a few pips above the 99.00 level.

The dollar has been enjoying something of a rally against major peers while the market awaits the appearance later today of US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke before a Congressional committee in Washington DC. Bernanke is widely expected to confirm that the Federal Reserve wouldn’t be looking to reduce its $85 billion monthly bond buying through the remainder of this year.

He’s also expected to review the most recent US economic data, possibly with a tilt to the latest weekly jobless claims report, due out tomorrow. The unemployment rate at 7.6 percent and yesterday’s mediocre inflation update point to the likelihood of business as usual at the Fed.
Earlier today, the published minutes of the Bank of Japan’s June meeting indicated broad consensus that the Japanese economy is on the road to moderate recovery, with resilience in domestic demand being supported by quantitative easing and other measures, and growth in trading partner economies, albeit modest.
An extract from the minutes: “While the pick-up in exports had been led by those of motor vehicles so far, positive developments in exports seemed to be spreading to some other goods, such as capital goods and parts bound for the United States.”