Euro Falters Against Yen Amid Middle East Tensions
The Euro (EUR) has retreated from its earlier gains against the Japanese Yen (JPY), weighed down by a mild risk-off market mood amid growing tensions in the Middle East. Despite hot German inflation figures, which showed a 2.8% year-over-year rate in July's Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, the EUR/JPY pair failed to hold above 184.00 and dropped to 1.8315 lows before rebounding to the 183.50 area.
The data from Germany confirmed that energy inflation jumped to 7.3% in the 12 months to July, from 2.7% in June, while excluding food and energy, inflation accelerated at a more moderate 2.6% year-over-year rate, from June's 2.5% reading.
The figures have cemented hopes for a European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate hike in September, but the impact on the Euro has been marginal so far.