Investing.com - The dollar trimmed losses against the yen on Thursday, pulling away from two-week lows hit following dovish comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
USD/JPY retreated from 98.25, the pair’s lowest since June 27, to hit 99.16 during late Asian trade, still down 0.52% for the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 97.55, the low of June 27 and resistance at 99.89, the session high.
The dollar fell against all the major currencies after Bernanke said in a speech that the Fed will continue to maintain accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future, citing low levels of inflation and the high unemployment rate.
The comments came after the minutes of the central bank’s June policy meeting showed that Fed policymakers remain divided over when to begin tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
Around half of Fed policymakers believe the bank should start to scale back bond purchases by the end of the year, while many others believe the labor market still remains too weak.
The dollar had rallied in the past month after Bernanke said in June that the Fed could begin to taper bond buying by the end of 2013 if the economy continued to pick up.
The yen was boosted after the Bank of Japan left monetary policy on hold following its policy setting meeting, in a widely anticipated decision.
The BoJ also upgraded its assessment of the economy, saying it it is starting to moderately recover.
Elsewhere, the yen was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/JPY inching up 0.03% to 129.32.
The U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims later in the trading day.
USD/JPY retreated from 98.25, the pair’s lowest since June 27, to hit 99.16 during late Asian trade, still down 0.52% for the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 97.55, the low of June 27 and resistance at 99.89, the session high.
The dollar fell against all the major currencies after Bernanke said in a speech that the Fed will continue to maintain accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future, citing low levels of inflation and the high unemployment rate.
The comments came after the minutes of the central bank’s June policy meeting showed that Fed policymakers remain divided over when to begin tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
Around half of Fed policymakers believe the bank should start to scale back bond purchases by the end of the year, while many others believe the labor market still remains too weak.
The dollar had rallied in the past month after Bernanke said in June that the Fed could begin to taper bond buying by the end of 2013 if the economy continued to pick up.
The yen was boosted after the Bank of Japan left monetary policy on hold following its policy setting meeting, in a widely anticipated decision.
The BoJ also upgraded its assessment of the economy, saying it it is starting to moderately recover.
Elsewhere, the yen was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/JPY inching up 0.03% to 129.32.
The U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims later in the trading day.