The U.S. dollar hovered around 109 yen in Tokyo on Thursday morning, as Federal Reserve policy meeting minutes dulled expectations of an early U.S. interest rate hike. The greenback hit levels last seen back in October 2014 fetching 109-25-27 yen at noon, down from 109.74-84 yen in New York and 110.40-42 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The dollar recovered somewhat in Tokyo trading before falling again below the low of 109.34 yen reached in New York overnight following the release of minutes of the March 15-16th Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The minutes suggested that the central bank appears unlikely to raise interest rates until global growth looks more positive and probably not before June. A rate hike would make the dollar stronger against the yen.
BOJ May Raise Rates
Meanwhile, sources at the Bank of Japan have hinted that BOJ policymakers are debating the possibility of easing rates further at their April 27-28 meeting, pointing to continued negative economic data failing to reinforce their expectations that a moderate economic recovery would lift inflation towards their 2 percent target.
One senior Japanese finance ministry official said on Thursday that the yen has risen against the U.S. dollar despite verbal warnings from Japanese officials against its appreciation. He pointed to recent currency moves as being one-sided and that the ministry would take steps in the market as needed.
And in a report to the Wall Street Journal this week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's warned countries against seeking to weaken their currencies with "arbitrary intervention."