Yen Rebounds On Japan Minister’s Remarks
The yen rebounded against the dollar and the euro on Tuesday after the Japanese finance minister denied that Tokyo was considering purchasing foreign bonds.
The dollar fell to 93.66 yen by late afternoon in Tokyo, from ¥93.81 in European trading action the previous day. The euro declined to ¥125.08 from ¥125.68.
Taro Aso, Japan’s finance minister, said at a news conference Tuesday that the government wasn’t mulling foreign-bond purchases as part of monetary-easing measures.
Aso’s remarks came just a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said such bond purchases — a move that could further weaken the yen as the nation buys assets denominated in another currency — were among the monetary- easing options available to the Bank of Japan.
Economy Minister Akira Amari played down the contrast in Aso’s and Abe’s comments, saying that Abe’s remarks the previous day simply referred to policy options that countries have in general, according to a Reuters report.
Reports of a rift
The comments attributed to Abe and Aso “only underscore the reported rift” between the two over their choice of candidates for the Bank of Japan’s next governor, said Sue Trinh, a senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets.
Trinh noted speculation that Aso favored Toshiro Muto, who is seen as a moderate for his monetary-policy preferences, while Abe is believed to be favoring Kazumasa Iwata, who last year proposed setting up a fund to invest in foreign securities.
Incumbent Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa has said he plans to step down from his post on March 19.
Meanwhile, two separate gauges of the dollar’s movements diverged Tuesday.
The ICE dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major global currencies, inched up to 80.585 from 80.572.
The WSJ dollar index , which captures the dollar’s moves against a slightly wider basket of rival units, eased to 71.93 from 71.96.
Among major currency pairs, the euro was trading at $1.3355 as compared with $1.3359, and the British pound was fetching $1.5485 versus $1.5476.
The Australian dollar rose to $1.0330 from $1.0306.
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