Yen Falls Amid U.S. Fed's Rate Cut Speculation

(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday, as investors await a slew of U.S. economic data for additional clues on the Federal Reserve's policy outlook.

The Labour Department's report on producer price inflation for July is due later in the day and consumer price inflation on Wednesday.

Both are expected to show a slowdown in the annual rate of price growth, which could provide further impetus for the Federal Reserve to lower rates in light of recent concerns about the outlook for the economy.

The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates next month, analysts are divided regarding the probability of a quarter or half point rate cut.

Thursday's retail sales numbers, comments from Fed officials and U.K. inflation data and GDP report due on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively may also influence sentiment as the week progresses.

In the Asian trading today, the yen fell to a 4-day low of 170.44 against the Swiss franc, from yesterday's closing value of 170.00. The yen is likely to find support around the 175.00 region.

Against the euro and the pound, the yen dropped to 161.70 and 189.08 from Monday's closing quotes of 160.79 and 187.76, respectively. On the downside, 166.00 against the euro and 201.00 against the pound are seen as the next support levels for the yen.

Against the U.S., Australia, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen slipped to 147.82, 9753, 89.21 and 107.61 from yesterday's closing quotes of 147.02, 96.81, 88.55 and 107.00, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 154.00 against the greenback, 103.00 against the aussie, 93.00 against the kiwi and 111.00 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, Germany's ZEW economic sentiment survey results for August are due to be released in the European session at 5:00 am ET.

In the New York session, U.S. PPI for July, U.S. Redbook report and U.S. NFIB business optimism index for July are slated for release.