Dollar Hits A 24 Year High Against the Yen

On Wednesday, the dollar reached levels against the yen that triggered intervention by Japanese authorities last month, while pound investors remained perplexed about the Bank of England’s objectives.

Early Asian trading saw the dollar reach 146.39 yen for the first time since August 1998. At 146.18, it was recently up 0.2%. On September 22, as the yen dropped to 145.90 to the dollar, Japanese authorities initiated their first yen-buying intervention since 1998. Officials have reaffirmed that they are ready to take the necessary action to stop excessive currency swings, although it is unclear if they want to defend certain levels.

BoJ Efforts to Slow Yen’s Depreciation

According to Alvin Tan, director of Asia currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets, with the overarching strong dollar trend in place, it’s probable that the Bank of Japan would try to slow down the speed of the dollar-increase yen by defending at a greater level than previously assumed. The difference in long-term bond rates between the United States and Japan strongly impacts the value of the Japanese yen. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose overnight to a 14-year high of 4.006%, and the Bank of Japan pushed the Japanese Treasury yield to zero.

Besides the pound, the day’s other major topic was the economy. Early Asian trading saw the pound hit $1.0925, a two-week low. Following the announcement from Governor Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England (BoE) announced that its emergency bond purchase program would stop on Friday. Position rebalancing is to be completed within that stipulated time frame, according to his instructions.

It recovered marginally following a Financial Times story that the BoE had informally told lenders it was willing to continue buying bonds; it was the last trading at $1.1015, up 0.5% on the day.