USD/JPY flows: Toyota accepts wage hike request

After a week of consideration, Toyota has agreed to union wage hike demand. The union has requested the highest wage increase since 1999. The requested annual lump sum amount was equivalent to 7.6 months of standard wages and exceeds last year's request for 6.7 months. This is a good sign but another larget Japanese company, Okuma Corp, has disappointed union demand. Japan chief cabinet secretary Hayashi said it is important that wage rises spread to mid & small firms. It seems to suggest most officials are still waiting for the results of wage negotiation by the end of the week.

So far, wage negotiations have exceeded expectations and is above BoJ's wage growth target of 2%. USD/JPY is trading 0.23% lower at 147.31.