The yen gained in volatile trading on Friday after the Bank of Japan maintained ultra-low interest rates but took steps to make its yield curve control policy more flexible.
Chopping and changing direction as traders digested the BOJ decision, the yen strengthened to as much as 138.50 per dollar before weakening to 141.20. The Japanese currency was last at 139.14, up 0.25 against the dollar.
The BOJ's two-day policy meeting ended on Friday with a decision to keep unchanged its short-term interest rate target at -0.1% and that for the 10-year government bond yield around 0%.
The BOJ also said it would offer to buy 10-year Japanese government bonds (JGB) at 1.0% in fixed-rate operations, instead of the previous rate of 0.5%.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank hiked policy rates by 25 basis point, as expected.
However, the ECB raised the possibility of a pause in September as inflation pressures show tentative signs of easing and recession worries mount.
During Asian trade on Friday, the single currency eased 0.05% to $1.0967.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was up 0.05% at 101.73, having risen 0.66% overnight.
The Australian dollar 0.84% to $0.665, while the kiwi lost 0.50% to $0.615.
Source : Reuters
