JPY witnessed another round of early weakness vs. the dollar as it dropped almost as far as its recent 2014 low before recovering fairly strongly. Dollar-yen opened at Y118.27 and ran higher again in early Asia-Pacific dealings, to hit Y118.46. It extended the early gains to Y118.59 after the release of the BOJ minutes but stalled before it could make any attempt to test the recent 2014 high of Y108.98, traded on Nov. 20. That triggered a wave of profit-taking, which also coincided with remarks by BOJ governor Kuroda, who said inflation in Japan would continue to head toward the 2% target as planned. Dollar-yen’s reversal continued as it neared Y118.00 and then picked up pace as Y118.00 then broke. The pair dropped sharply after that, with yen crosses also following suit. Dollar-yen fell to a Y117.79 low while euro-yen fell from an early Y147.39 high to Y146.45. The cross last traded near that low at Y146.57 while dollar-yen also stayed under pressure at Y117.94 last.
