In the foreign exchange market for the week ending March 23rd, the USDJPY lacked direction as it fluctuated widely between the 148 and 150 yen ranges throughout the week. Although the central banks in the U.S., Japan, and the U.K. made monetary policy announcements, they all remained unchanged, as expected by the market.

March 17 (Mon)

The foreign exchange market moved slightly at the beginning of the week as traders awaited monetary policy announcements from the major central banks. However, U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 18 eased the market's concerns about the situation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The USDJPY rose above the 149 yen level after hovering in the 148 yen range. The EURUSD broke above 1.09, and the GBPUSD hovered around 1.299.

March 18 (Tue)

The German parliament passed the fiscal reform bill, allowing the government to increase its borrowing. Traders bought the euro on the expectation that the bill would boost the country's economy. However, the pair's rally stalled just before the 1.10 level.

The USDJPY approached the 150 yen level but mostly fluctuated in the 149 yen range. The GBPUSD touched the 1.30 range.

March 19 (Wed)

In Turkey, Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained. This news shattered confidence in the government and sent the Turkish Lira into a nosedive. As a result, dollar buying pressure increased, pushing the EURUSD and GBPUSD down to the 1.086 and 1.295 ranges, respectively.

Meanwhile, as expected, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced at its Monetary Policy Meeting that it would keep its policy interest rate unchanged. The predictable outcome had little impact on the market. Likewise, in the U.S., the FOMC also left its policy interest rate unchanged. However, while the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) maintained its outlook for two rate cuts in 2025, it downgraded its economic growth outlook. The latter triggered dollar selling, and the USDJPY plummeted from the 150 yen range to the 148.6 yen range.

March 20 (Thu)

The aftermath of the previous day's FOMC announcement persisted as the USDJPY fell to the lower 148 yen range. However, traders then bought back the dollar, lifting the pair back into the 148.9 yen range.

The EURUSD fell to the 1.081 range as traders took profits. Meanwhile, the GBPUSD hovered around the middle of the 1.29 range.

March 21 (Fri)

With no other news to affect the market, the USDJPY hovered in the lower 149 yen range throughout the day, although it briefly dropped to the 148.6 yen range. The EURUSD weakened and touched the 1.08 range. The GBPUSD also gradually fell and touched the 1.288 range.

March 24 (Mon)

• 23:50 Japan: Summary of Opinions at the Monetary Policy Meeting

March 25 (Tue)

• 14:00 U.S.: February new home sales

March 27 (Thu)

• 12:30 U.S.: October-December quarterly real gross domestic product (finalized GDP)

March 28 (Fri)

• 07:00 U.K.: October-December quarterly gross domestic product (revised GDP)
• 12:30 U.S.: February personal consumption expenditures (PCE deflator)
• 12:30 U.S.: February personal consumption expenditures (core PCE deflator, excluding food and energy)

The following currency pair charts are analyzed using an overlay of the ±1σ and ±2σ standard deviation Bollinger Bands, with a 20-period moving average.