Japanese PM Suga: Dissolving lower house not possible now

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters that he had no current plans to dissolve the country's lower house due to the severity of the coronavirus situation.

The current terms of members of the lower house will end in October, and local media have reported that Suga could hold a general election on Oct. 17.

Keynotes

Suga: date of the election will be decided by the ruling liberal democratic party.

Can't dissolve parliament amid severe coronavirus situation.

No change to the fact that coronavirus countermeasures take priority over general election.

We cannot dissolve parliament in the current situation.

Not planning to push back LDP leadership election, will plan for general election with available dates.

There has been no reaction in the yen as markets get set for more key data from the US to determine the bias towards US tapering timings.