SINGAPORE, June 24 — The dollar was steady on Monday as traders looked ahead to fresh clues on the US inflation path that will likely influence interest rates, while talk from Japanese authorities did little to temper the yen’s decline back the round number of 160. The yen weakened to 159.94 per dollar in early trade on Monday, its lowest since April 29, when the yen touched a 34-year low of 160.
245 leading to Japanese authorities spending some 9.8 trillion yen to support the currency. It was last at 159.
70 per dollar after Japan’s top currency diplomat Masato Kanda said on Monday authorities will take appropriate steps if there is excessive foreign exchange movement, and that the addition of Japan to the US Treasury’s forex monitoring list would not restrict their action. The yen has come under renewed pressure after the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) decision this month to hold off on reducing bond-buying stimulus until its July meeting. A summary of opinions at the BOJ’s June policy meeting on Monday showed some policymakers called for raising interest rates in a timely fashion as they saw a risk of inflation overshooting expectations.
“It’s pretty remarkable despite expectations of further BOJ policy tightening dollar/yen continues to creep higher and is now back up to 160,” said Carol Kong, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “I think unless the BOJ gives very hawkish hints on policy, which is unlikely, dollar/yen is unlikely to turn around .