Fragile yen slightly higher as intervention talk in focus; US dollar dips
On the other hand, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six peers, was down 0.2% at 106.73, giving up some of its recent gains, after weaker-than-expected U.S. private payrolls based on the ADP National Employment Report.
The index, however, remained within striking distance of a nearly 11-month high of 107.34 reached in the previous session.
The dollar did retrace some of its losses after U.S. factory orders gained 1.2% in August, compared with expectations of a 0.2% rise.
That more than offset the moderate decline in a U.S. services sector index last month.
The Japanese currency was last flat at 149.08 per dollar, after unexpectedly surging nearly 2% at one point on Tuesday to 147.30, its strongest level in three weeks.
The spike came after it slipped to 150.165 per dollar, its weakest since October 2022.
«Dollar/yen is now trading pretty close to levels we saw just three sessions ago, which tells me that yesterday's move was not, in fact, an intervention on the currency pair,» said Helen Given, FX trader, at Monex USA in Washington.
«I see an overwrought market reaction to touching that psychological 150 figure. Investors want so badly to believe that Japanese officials are intervening that they're repricing even before it actually happens,» she added.
Japan's top currency diplomat, Masato Kanda, said he would not comment on whether Tokyo intervened in the exchange rate market overnight, although he said that «we have only taken steps that have the understanding of U.S.
authorities».
The Bank of Japan's money market data showed on Wednesday that Japan likely did not intervene in the currency market a day earlier.
Analysts were divided on the issue, however. «Them stepping in here would be
