The Japanese currency also loitered near an 11-month trough against the U.S. dollar and was just shy of a 17-month low on the Aussie.
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On Friday, the central bank raised the policy rate by a quarter point to a three-decade peak of 0.75%, in a clearly telegraphed move. But while the accompanying statement signalled a readiness to continue tightening policy, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda stuck to his usual cautious rhetoric in his news conference.
Ueda is due to speak at Japan’s Keidanren business lobby on Christmas Day, offering markets another opportunity to parse any policy clues.
“While the BOJ statement noted that real yields remain ‘significantly low’ – potentially signalling further tightening ahead – Governor Ueda’s press conference offered little new insight, reiterating a data-dependent approach,” Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, wrote in a client note.
“The absence of clearer guidance on the pace of future hikes disappointed markets, triggering yen selling.”
A decisive break above 158 yen per U.S. dollar would open the way to the high for the year from January at around 158.87, he said.
The U.S. dollar edged down 0.3% to 157.37 yen on Monday, but remained close to last month’s high of 157.90.
The euro eased 0.1% to 184.42 yen , staying within touching distance of Friday’s record peak at 184.75. The single currency was 0.1% stronger at $1.1720 .
The Swiss franc rose 0.4% to 197.91 yen after touching a record 198.22 yen early in the session.
The Aussie was 0.6% firmer at 104.16 yen , having earlier reached the strongest levels against the yen since July of last year.
The Aussie-yen pair “still has fundamental support from solid risk sentiment and more recently, by wider interest rate differentials between Australian and Japanese ten-year government bond yields,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts wrote in a client note, forecasting a rise to 109 yen per Australian dollar by March.
Reporting by Kevin Buckland and Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Sonali Paul and Shri Navaratnam
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