The dollar dipped on Wednesday as investors locked in gains following its steep rise against the yen after intervention warnings from Japanese officials. Both currencies had suffered losses in late April when the Bank of Japan held off from expanding monetary stimulus, touching off a rally in the yen that stoked investors' fears that Japan's Ministry of Finance would decide to intervene.
Still, many expect that Japan would be wary of conducting direct currency intervention before it hosts a G7 meeting later this month, as Tokyo is sensitive to criticism that it is trying to engineer a weaker yen.
Koichi Hamada, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was the latest to sound a currency market warning. Hamada said on Tuesday Japan will intervene in foreign exchange markets if the yen strengthens to 90-95 per dollar, even if that upsets the United States.
The New Zealand dollar stole some limelight, rising 0.6 percent to 68 U.S. cents NZD=D4, climbing well away from a recent low of $0.6717. Markets had sold the kiwi on Tuesday on speculation the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) would introduce new measures to curb Auckland's housing market. When the RBNZ held off from that course on Wednesday investors were quick to unwind those moves.
EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair traded in the range of $1.1370-90
GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair traded in the range of $1.4440-60
USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell to Y108.60
Based on Reuters materials