"For the rest of this year, we will continue to see dollar strength and yen weakness as investors wrap their arms around the positive prospects from Abenomics"
-Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak and Co.
The monetary base in Japan surged to a record high in June, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday, boosted by the central bank's aggressive monetary easing programme aimed at ending 15 years of deflation in the country. On annual basis the average monetary base balance spiked as much as 36% in June to 163.5 trillion yen, following the 31.6% increase in May. The adjusted monetary base rose 75.5% from the previous year to 164.516 trillion yen after climbing 137.7% a month earlier. Japan's central bank stunned markets in April, when it announced the world's most intense burst of monetary stimulus by pledging to double money supply in two years.
Meanwhile, average cash earnings in Japan unexpectedly remained flat for a second consecutive month in May, according to the Labor Ministry data on Tuesday. Total average wage per regular employee in Japan amounted to 267,567 yen in May from the previous year, when wages fell 1.1%. Regular pay slipped 0.2% from the previous year earlier in May, whereas special cash earnings increased 4.5%. Contractual cash earnings declined 0.2% on year, and overtime pay slipped 0.1%, recording the seventh fall in the past twelve months.
© Dukascopy Bank SA