The yen languished near a 15-year low against the euro and around a seven-month trough against the dollar on Friday, ahead of a closely-watched policy decision by the Bank of Japan, where it is set to stay ultra-dovish in the face of its hawkish peers.

The euro was poised for its best week since November after a hawkish European Central Bank (ECB) signalled further rate hikes to come, after raising borrowing costs to a 22-year high overnight. That and a run of soft U.S. economic data saw the dollar fall broadly as traders scaled back their bets on how high U.S. interest rates would need to rise.

The Japanese yen was last just over 0.1% higher at 140.09 per dollar, having bottomed at 141.50 per dollar in the previous session, its lowest since November.

Against the euro , the yen last bought 153.40, not far from Thursday's 15-year low of 153.685 per euro. The Japanese currency was likewise pinned near an over seven-year low against the British pound at 178.34.

The BOJ is due to announce its monetary policy decision later on Friday at the conclusion of its two-day meeting, with investors widely expecting the central bank to maintain ultra-low rates.

Elsewhere, the euro stood near a one-month high at $1.0947, having surged over 1% on Thursday following the rate hike and hawkish forward guidance from the ECB.

ECB President Christine Lagarde told a press conference that another rate hike in July was highly likely and that the central bank still has "ground to cover" to stave off high inflation.

Sterling rose to an over one-year peak of $1.2794 in early Asia trade, as traders similarly ramped up bets that the Bank of England is likely to raise interest rates for the 13th meeting in a row next week.

Source : Reuters