The Japanese yen rose against most major currencies this week as risk aversion persisted on the Forex market, driving investors to seek safety of the Japanese currency. The gains were relatively small, though.

Europe remains the main reason for worries. The delay of ESM’s implementation and the downgrade of Italy’s credit rating reminded market participants that the eurozone is not out of the wood. China and the slowdown of its economic growth added to concerns of traders.

In Japan itself, the trading environment was also positive for the yen as the Bank of Japan refrained from adding stimulus on its policy meeting on July 12. In fact, the BoJ expanded its asset purchase program, but reduced its fixed rate loan program by the same amount, meaning that the overall size of the stimulating program remained the same.

USD/JPY was down from 79.66 to 79.19 and EUR/JPY was down from 97.72 to 76.97. AUD/JPY was little changed from 81.11 to 80.96.

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