from Kevin Buckland
TOKYO (Archyde.com) – It hovered near a 32-year high above 149 yen on Tuesday, even as it pared its rally against other major currencies, as traders braced for a possible fresh intervention from Tokyo to prop up its currency.
The Australian dollar rose after the minutes of the last meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia revealed that the decision to slow the pace of interest rate hikes to a quarter point instead of a further increase of half a point was “precisely balanced”.
The New Zealand dollar also rose after a report on consumer prices indicated a larger-than-expected rise, which bolstered expectations of further policy tightening.
The US currency hit 148,855 yen after hitting 149.10 late in the evening session for the first time since August 1990. This puts the key psychological barrier of 150 in the spotlight.
At the same time, the dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six major currencies, including the yen and the pound sterling, fell, approaching its lowest level in a week and a half, with the recovery of European currencies thanks to a sharp turn related to the retreat from the tax cut plan in Britain.
It has strengthened by 3 percent since Oct. 5, when it sustainably broke the 145 barrier after spending about two weeks hovering near it, as traders jittered after the Bank of Japan’s first intervention in buying the yen since 1998 on Sept. 22.
It fell to $1.1349, after rising 1.6 percent on Monday and touching $1.144 for the first time since Oct. 5.
Jeremy Hunt, who was appointed by British Prime Minister Liz Truss as chancellor on Friday, scrapped large parts of the £45 billion “mini-budget” that sparked market turmoil, sent the pound to record lows and forced the Bank of England to intervene to stem the bond market crash.
The euro settled at $0.9838, after earlier touching the highest level since the sixth of October (EGX:) at $0.9853.
The Australian dollar rose 0.14 percent to $0.630, receiving support after the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s October 4th meeting showed that the decision to slow the pace of sudden policy tightening was “precisely balanced”.
The New Zealand dollar jumped 0.57 percent to $0.567 after a report showed that consumer price inflation was still hovering near a three-decade high in the third quarter.
(Prepared by Doaa Muhammad for the Arabic Bulletin)