The USD/JPY pair edged higher during the Asian session, albeit lacked any strong follow-through, and has now retreated around 15 pips from daily tops near mid-104.00s. The pair managed to regain some positive traction on Thursday and built on the previous day's modest rebound from the 104.10 region, or six-week lows touched in the wake of the global flight to safety. A solid rebound in the US equity futures undermined the safe-haven Japanese yen and was seen as a key factor behind the USD/JPY pair's modest uptick.
The JPY was further pressured by the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) downward revision of growth and inflation forecasts for fiscal 2020/21. After the conclusion of the October monetary policy meeting, the BoJ decided to leave benchmark interest rates unchanged at -0.1% and maintain the 10-year Japanese government bond yield target at around 0%.