Bullish signals are proliferating.
We have a positive medium-term bias and expect the yen to strengthen over the third quarter and subsequent quarters. We see the currency rising towards 130 by year-end, and into the mid-120’s in a year’s time. This stems from several factors including: (a) Our expectation that the Bank of Japan will embark on a policy normalisation path given the upturn in inflation. Core inflation (all items excluding fresh food and energy) is now running north of 4 percent per annum, the highest since 1981. In our judgment, an ultra-accommodative stance appears untenable, and it seems to be a matter of...