Dollar-yen remained soft in the Tokyo market, with trading continuing to hug the mid-¥153 range. Movements in crude oil prices, along with continued turmoil in the Middle East, also affected the market as investors watched the BOJ's policy stance.
In the Tokyo market on the morning of the 10th, dollar-yen rose to ¥153.74 before falling back to ¥153.28. The pressure to buy yen appeared to stem from growing expectations of tightening following comments by a BOJ official, while weaker crude oil prices also prompted dollar selling at times.
The trading ranges were ¥153.28-¥153.74 for dollar-yen, ¥178.42-¥178.83 for euro-yen, and 1.1629-1.1640 for euro-dollar.
In comments by a senior official, BOJ Policy Board member Masu (増) said that although current financial conditions remained accommodative, it was important to keep underlying inflation from substantially exceeding 2% and to resolve the situation of negative real interest rates as soon as possible. He also said it was important to control prices through appropriate monetary policy and maintain positive real wages, while noting that if inflation accelerated, rapid rate hikes could become necessary as a risk scenario.
The continued turmoil in the Middle East also kept movements in crude oil prices affecting the dollar at times.