Insignia Consultants | Yen near 10-week low, dollar buoyant as traders adjust rate bets
Yen near 10-week low, dollar buoyant as traders adjust rate bets
TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The yen wallowed near a 10-week low on Friday, while the dollar ground towards a fourth weekly advance as traders dialled back bets on how quickly the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates and how soon the Federal Reserve will cut them.
The yen was little changed at 149.315 per dollar in early Asian trading, after dipping to 149.48 late in the previous session for the first time since Nov. 27.
BOJ Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida on Thursday said "it's hard to imagine" that the central bank would keep raising rates "rapidly" even after ending negative interest rate policy, which the market expects to happen as early as next month.
On Friday morning in Tokyo, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said that he was "watching FX moves carefully," while also repeating that decisions on monetary policy are up to the central bank. The yen was unfazed by the warning.
The dollar index - which measures the currency against six major peers - was steady at 104.15, having gained 0.1% on Thursday after fresh data pointed to the resilience of the U.S. labor market, dealing another blow to bets for early Fed rate cuts.
