The yen eased away from its one-month low against the dollar on Tuesday as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda acknowledged the price for maintaining an aggressive stimulus program while holding back from hinting at further monetary policy easing.
The Australian dollar was up 0.5 percent after data showed the trade deficit in Australia was smaller than expected in April-June, ahead of the policy announcement from the Reserve Bank of Australia later in the day. The British pound held its strong tone, following surprising resilience in recent UK economic data. GBP/USD trades at 1.3345 at the open in Europe, after having touched a seven-week high of 1.3376 on Monday.
USD/JPY consolidated near 103.35, having fallen nearly a full yen from Friday's one-month high of 104.32. Despite claiming he is ready to expand the stimulus program, Kuroda gave no hints of any action at the next review on September 20-21 but instead admitted that the program does have its elevated costs.
EUR/JPY fell to 115.25 from Friday's one-month high of 116.37. EUR/USD traded around 1.1165 after a quiet day on Monday due to the US Labor Day holiday.
Gold held firm early on Tuesday from the prior session as the dollar eased on expectations that the US Federal Reserve will not raise rates in September, but the precious metal's gains were limited by stronger equity markets. Spot gold was slightly up at $1,328.50 per ounce.
The Aussie jumped 0.75 percent to 0.7654, hitting its highest level since Aug 26, maintaining its recovery trend from last week's one-month low of 0.7490.
