Japan’s Nishimura: Recovery in availability of jobs has slowed under state of emergency

The recovery in the availability of jobs has slowed under the state of emergency during January and February, the Japanese Economy Minister Yasuhisa Nishimura said on Tuesday.

His comments come after the country’s jobless rate held steady at 2.9% in February while the availability of jobs declined from the previous month.

On Monday, Nishimura announced that a state-backed fund will make its first investment into companies suffering from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, per Reuters.

USD/JPY challenges 110.00

Despite a broad retreat in the US dollar and risk-off environment, USD/JPY remains underpinned and closes in on the 110.00 level.

The spot was last seen trading at 109.88, up 0.11% on the day.