“The yen fell against all its major peers as Bank of Japan (8301) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda outlined monetary easing options to achieve a 2 percent annual inflation goal in two years.
Japan’s currency snapped a three-day advance against the dollar after Kuroda said the BOJ will consider extending the maturities of bond purchases and scrapping a limit on such buying. The euro traded 0.3 percent from a four-month low ahead of debt auctions in Italy, where lawmakers are trying to form a government after inconclusive elections last month.Singapore’s dollar climbed for a fourth day, the longest streak this year.
“The speculative community has driven dollar-yen higher,” saidJonathan Cavenagh, a currency strategist in Singapore atWestpac Banking Corp. (WBC) For Kuroda, “the bar is set quite high in terms of what he’s going to have to deliver to give dollar-yen a significant boost.”
The yen was little changed at 94.21 per dollar as of 6:46 a.m. in London, halting a three-day, 2 percent advance. It lost 0.2 percent to 121.28 per euro. Europe’s 17-nation currency rose 0.2 percent to $1.2873 from yesterday when it touched $1.2830, the lowest since Nov. 22.
Kuroda told lawmakers today that the BOJ will discuss purchasing more bonds with longer maturities. The BOJ currently buys government debt maturing in three years or less through its 76 trillion-yen ($807 billion) asset-purchase program.
He also said the BOJ may scrap its so-called banknote rule of keeping central bank bond holdings at less than the value of banknotes outstanding. Policy specifics will be discussed at the central bank board meeting, Kuroda said, with the next one scheduled for April 3-4.
“Achieving the 2 percent inflation target in two years is something that I have in my mind,” Kuroda said in the lower house of parliament.
