Yen hits 34-year low against dollar
The yen hit a 34-year low against the dollar on Wednesday, just over a week after the Bank of Japan announced a muchanticipated interest rate hike in a shift away from years of ultra-loose monetary policy.
The unit weakened to 151.97 per dollar, its softest since 1990, before recovering to levels of around 151.35 later in the day.
The drop came after a top central bank official suggested it would continue to pursue an accommodative policy for the time being, echoing previous comments from the BOJ.
But soon afterwards, the finance minister said authorities would not hesitate to “take resolute action against excessive” forex moves — raising speculation of a government intervention to prop up the currency.
Over the past two years the yen has sharply weakened from levels of around 115 against the dollar, before Russia’s attack of Ukraine.
While central banks around the world aggressively hiked rates to tackle soaring inflation, the Bank of Japan stuck to its ultra-loose policies, driving down the yen. This has been good news for exporters, but not for consumers as it made imports more expensive.
Last week the bank finally took a step away from its unorthodox monetary stimulus programme — hiking rates for the first time since 2007.
The yen has continued to slide since then, however. Wednesday’s dip came after Naoki Tamura, a BOJ board member, reportedly told business leaders in northern Japan that “slow but steady progress” was needed on scaling back the central bank’s long-standing ultra-easy policy.