Yen climbs against euro after appointing Kazuo Ueda for BoJ governor role

Yen rose in European trade against a basket of major rivals off week lows after the Japanese government chose economic expert Kazuo Ueda as the new Bank of Japan governor as the current holder of the position, Haruhiko Kuroda, will finish his term in April.

In Europe, investors await important fourth quarter inflation and unemployment data, which will provide fresh clues on the health of the European economy and the path ahead for policies. 

EUR/JPY fell 0.4% to 141.52, with a session-high at 142.11, after rising 1.2% yesterday, marking one-week highs at 142.38 away from three-week lows at 139.55. 

Kazuo Ueda

The Japanese government chose economic expert Kazuo Ueda as the new Bank of Japan governor as the current holder of the position, Haruhiko Kuroda, will finish his term in April.

Ueda is aged 71 years old, and will be the first BoJ governor with an academic background, after getting his Doctorate from MIT and becoming an economics professor in the Tokyo University, while also working for the Bank of Japan board between 1998 and 2005.

Ueda still has to attend Parliament meetings later this month for his appointment to be official as lawmakers quiz him for his monetary policy plans.

Ueda is not yet known whether he's bullish or bearish in his policy tendencies, with analysts mostly expecting him to maintain the current ultra easy policies of his predecessor. 

European Data

Now investors await important European data later today, with GDP growth estimates at 0.1% in the euro zone in the fourth quarter, same as the third quarter. 

Strong data will underpin the European Central Bank's plans to continue hiking interest rates by an aggressive pace following the March meeting.