Yen has weakened across the board as Noda paves way for Japanese election. With the opposition LDP leading in the polls Noda looks dead in the water. Opposition LDP’s Shinzo Abe is almost a shoe-in for Japan’s next Prime Minister.l He is likely to lean very heavily on the BOJ to introduce even more aggressive monetary stimulus, hence the yen weakness.

I have to say, Japan seems to change its’ Prime Minister more often than I change my underpants……

USD/JPY up at 80.10 from early 79.50, having been as high as 80.15. Buy stops were tripped through 79.70, 79.90 and 80.00 accelerating the rally. Decent ACB selling was seen in the 79.90/00 area, but it wasn’t enough to cap the rally.

EUR/JPY up at 102.00 from early 101.15, having been as high as 102.06. Technical resistance in form of tenkan line comes in at 102.09. Talk of buy stops gathering through 102.15.

EUR/USD continues to consolidate recent losses. Up marginally at 1.2730 from early 1.2720, having reached the dizzy heights of 1.2757 at one stage.

Cable down marginally at 1.5865 from early 1.5883, having been as low as 1.5855. Slightly lower growth forecast/downbeat comments in latest BOE inflation report and comments from Merve the Sverve (see both above) didn’t really help sterling’s cause. 200 dma well noted at 1.5851.