By: Hillel Fuld
The USD inched higher versus the JPY on Friday, approaching losses due to wariness on possible steps from Japanese authorities to ease the yen's rise.
Prompting these worries was a Kyodo news agency report saying Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will hold a news conference on Friday on the government's decisions to cope with a recent surge in the yen.
Separately, Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda reemphasized that the government will take appropriate action on currencies when the time is right.
"The yen did dip a little bit, but I think market players were already bracing for this type of news," said Yuji Matsuura, joint general manager for Aozora Bank's forex & derivatives trading group.
While there were rumors of stop-loss bids in the USD at around 84.60 yen, any gains in the US currency could turn out to be limited, with Japanese exporters likely to be waiting to go short the dollar on any rallies, Matsuura said.
The JPY may also get a push if Kan does not unveil any concrete policy changes to curb the yen's rise, Matsuura added.
The dollar rose 0.1 percent versus the yen from late U.S. trading on Thursday to 84.51 yen.
The USD pulled up from an intraday low of 84.27 yen, but was still not that far away from a 15-year low of 83.58 yen hit on trading platform EBS earlier this week.
Another focus is what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may say on the U.S. economy when he speaks later on Friday at the annual Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Investors will be watching to see whether the Fed's views on the economy have become more skeptical since its policy meeting earlier in August.
"In addition, the market will closely watch for hints of further expansion to the balance sheet. Jackson Hole has not traditionally been a venue for major policy statements, but we do not exclude this possibility," analysts at JPMorgan said in a research note.
The Federal Reserve announced plans earlier this month to boost a flagging economy by reinvesting money from maturing mortgage bonds in government debt.
Market players say the Fed's pledge to maintain asset purchases and shift to Treasuries suggests it may boost the size of its already massive $2.3 trillion balance sheet if the economy loses momentum.