The Japanese yen will remain firm against the dollar and relatively so against the euro so long as it there is no clear resolution to the eurozone crisis, according to a Reuters poll. The poll of around 60 foreign exchange strategists taken this week sees dollar/yen at 77 in a month, 78 in six months and 80 in a year, little changed from September's poll.
"In the longer term it will remain range bound ... between 75-80, with probably preference to the downside," said Chris Walker, FX strategist at UBS.
Against the euro, the yen is expected to firm to 101.6 in one month from 102.3 on Wednesday. It is then expected to slip by less than forecast in last month's poll, to 104.1 in six months and 109.1 in a year.
The September consensus was for 110.0 yen per euro in one month, 112.0 in six and 114.1 in a year. The battered common currency has fallen by around six percent since August and dropped to a decade low versus the yen to 101.946 in September.
"We don't expect an ever-falling euro but in the short term we see a downside," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief FX strategist at Barclays in Tokyo.
The euro is under pressure from the threat of a Greek default and Europe still seemingly far from a concrete solution to its debt woes. The rise in the yen in turn hurts Japanese exporters in an economy that's already struggling.
Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa offered a bleak assessment of the country's economic outlook on Wednesday as Europe's debt crisis hurts stock markets and keeps the safe-haven yen at stubbornly high levels.
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