Regarding the main gainers, the Japanese Yen inched higher 1.03% against the basket of other major currencies. On Friday USD/JPY was changing hands around 98.27, and the main reasons behind such a performance were not better than expected economic data from Japan, rather than the U.S. budget uncertainty. Despite it, Japanese economy is performing relatively well, as inflation rose at the fastest pace since 2008 in August amid high energy costs. Earlier this month during the Kisaragi-kai meeting Bank of Japan Governor backed widely-discussed aggressive easy policy saying the world's third largest economy is moving towards the path of reaching the 2% price stability target. However, there are now fewer and fewer analysts, who expect it to happen within the planned period. Moreover, the recent FOMC meeting and a surprise decision to refrain from tapering of its stimulus programme is raising concerns BoJ's Governor Kuroda is facing an uphill battle to stoke inflation with QE.
Another currency that is moving in a strong uptrend for some time already, is the British Pound, which appreciated 0.43% during the last five trading days. Even though there are growing speculations of a housing bubble, economic growth is building up steam. It is widely expected that brighter prospects will push investor's confidence, providing additional boost for the economy. Meanwhile, GBP/USD is moving a channel up pattern since the beginning of August, and according to the tools of technical analysis, the tendency will persist in the foreseeable future.
This week is likely to be highly attractive for traders as it is full of important economic data. On Wednesday October 2, the ECB will decide whether to stay pat on its monetary policy or cut the benchmark interest rate further. However, taking into account recent performance of the 17-nation economy, it is highly unlikely Draghi will decided to lower rates. Another key report will be published on Friday, when U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will unveil the unemployment rate, which is a threshold for Fed's stimulus programme. In case there is further improvement in the labour market, the "octapering" is a very likely to be announced during the next Federal Reserve's meeting.