Financial data screens in Tokyo show the US dollar rising above the 157 yen line on April 26, 2024. (Kyodo)
The yen weakened to the 157 range against the US dollar in New York on Friday, falling to a fresh 34-year low, after the Bank of Japan kept intact its current monetary easing policy.
The Japanese currency was hovering in the upper 155 range before the BOJ announced its policy decision.
Market caution that Japanese financial authorities may step in briefly sent the dollar down nearly two yen to the upper 154 yen zone earlier in the day.
But the yen soon resumed its downward spiral given the BOJ maintained its policy rate and bond-buying, with the central bank continuing to guide short-term interest rates in a range of zero and 0.1 percent.
The interest rate gap between Japan and the United States remains wide even after the BOJ made its first interest rate hike in 17 years in March. The US Federal Reserve guides its policy rate between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent, and a recent slate of stronger-than-expected data has reduced expectations that it will lower the rate soon.
