An illustration shows banknotes of the euro, Hong Kong dollar, US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound and Chinese 100 yuan.
12:29 JST, June 27, 2024
Tokyo (Jiji Press) – The dollar hit a high of about ¥160.70 in Tokyo trading on Thursday morning, remaining firm after hitting a 37-and-a-half-year high overnight in New York.
The dollar pared gains to settle at ¥160.45-46 at noon, still higher than ¥159.89-90 at 5 p.m. Wednesday. In New York, the dollar rose to ¥160.88 on Wednesday, a level not seen since December 1986.
Market players bought the US currency against the yen as persistently high US long-term interest rates fueled expectations that the US gap would narrow. and Japanese interest rates are unlikely to fall for the time being.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki warned of the dollar’s rise on Thursday morning, saying the country’s authorities are prepared to “take necessary action if necessary.”
But the comment had limited impact on the foreign exchange market. A currency broker said investors “did not feel the urgency (of Suzuki) and thought a currency intervention would not happen immediately.”
Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds, a key long-term interest rate, jumped to 1.075 percent in interdealer trading in Tokyo, the highest level since May 30.
The Nikkei 225 stock average ended morning trading at 39,286.52, down 380.55 points or 0.96 percent from Wednesday’s close. The benchmark index succumbed to profit-taking after a bullish market the day before.
