The yen rallied to a 14-year high against the dollar on speculation Japanese monetary authorities will tolerate further appreciation of the currency. Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said today the government needs to take action on “abnormal” currency movements. Earlier, Vice Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said the government is not considering stepping into the currency market, Reuters reported. The dollar reached a post-World War II low of 79.75 yen on April 19, 1995. The dollar traded at $1.5067 per euro from $1.5134 yesterday, when it slid to $1.5144, the weakest since August 2008. The yen advanced to 130.99 per euro from 132.21. Japan’s currency rose to as high as 86.30 yen per dollar, the strongest since July 1995, before trading at 86.93 as of 8:38 a.m. in London from 87.35 yesterday in New York.
The U.S. currency began a multiyear slide versus the yen in 1995 as a result of persistent U.S. trade deficits with Japan. The strength of the yen triggered joint purchases of greenbacks by the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve that year to weaken the Asian currency.
The Swiss franc fell against the euro and the dollar on speculation the nation’s central bank sold the currency after it climbed to parity with the greenback yesterday for the first time in 19 months. The Swiss currency slid 0.5 percent to 1.0017 per dollar after strengthening to 99.18 centimes, the second straight day it climbed to parity with the U.S. currency. The franc fell 0.1 percent to 1.5097 per euro.
