Yen's slide to multi-decade lows keeps markets on intervention alert
yen was stuck near a three-decade low against the dollar on Tuesday, struggling to find a floor as the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) ultra-easy monetary policy settings remained at odds with the prospect of higher-for-longer rates elsewhere.
The Japanese currency similarly slumped to a 15-year low of 162.38 per euro in early Asia trade and slid to a roughly three-month trough of 186.25 per British pound.
Against the dollar, the yen last stood at 151.72, languishing near a one-year low of 151.92 hit on Monday.
A break below last year's trough of 151.94 per dollar would mark a fresh 33-year low for the yen.
The yen had jumped briefly against the greenback in New York hours on Monday after striking the year-to-date low, which analysts attributed to a flurry of trading in options that come due this week.
Despite the BOJ's carefully orchestrated steps to phase out its controversial yield curve control (YCC) policy and hints of an imminent end to negative interest rates, the piecemeal moves have done little to prop up the yen, particularly as central banks globally maintain their hawkish rhetoric of higher-for-longer rates.
«I think the market has come to the realisation that the Bank of Japan is going to exit its policy but at a very, very, very slow and cautious pace,» said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank (NAB).
«A weak yen is probably going to stay here for a little bit longer, and the market has been testing to see what the appetite is, particularly for the (Ministry of Finance) and the BOJ, to allow for weaker levels.»
Japanese authorities in September last year intervened in the currency market to boost the yen for the first time since 1998, after a BOJ decision to maintain its ultra-loose
