Amid continued government comments to restrain yen depreciation, USD/JPY traded with a yen-strengthening bias. After reaching an afternoon high of ¥158.95, it fell to around ¥157.95.
In the Tokyo afternoon session, USD/JPY moved in the direction of a stronger yen. After opening at a high of ¥158.95 in morning trading, it turned lower following Finance Minister Katayama Satsuki's (片山さつき) comments to restrain yen depreciation and was reported to have fallen to around ¥157.95 shortly before 3 p.m.
Cross-yen pairs also came under pressure in line with this move, with EUR/JPY trading softly. EUR/USD continued to consolidate within a narrow range of 1.1368 to 1.1386, while the trend toward a weaker dollar and stronger yen intensified.
EUR/JPY had briefly risen into the upper ¥180s in early morning trading, but subsequently fell below ¥180 and declined to the ¥179.8 range. GBP/JPY was also soft, falling to around ¥208.9 in the 3 p.m. hour.
Comments by Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Jōnai Minoru (城内実), including that this is not an era for monetary easing, were also reported. Some market participants reportedly viewed the market reaction to the Bank of Japan's monetary easing stance as having been kept in check.