Foreign exchange players have no plans to sell the Japanese yen even though they believe it is overvalued, according to ANZ Investment Bank.
They would also hang on to other regional currencies, said ANZ, which polled foreign exchange dealers, currency funds and hedge funds in the past two business days.
'The survey result confirmed our long-held suspicion that very few offshore players are presently taking a very big, one-side view on the Japanese yen and other Asian [currencies],' the bank's head of Asian markets research, Daniel Lian, wrote yesterday in a daily briefing note to clients.
Cyclical and short-term factors were supporting the yen, preventing traders from taking out large positions against the unit.
Among the factors were the growth in repatriation of overseas assets by Japanese institutions and the rising allocation of overseas funds to equities in Japan.
The short-term support of the yen was also preventing other Asian currencies from being sold.