Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose to three-and-a-half week highs against the yen on Friday, as heightened expectations for a June rate hike by the Federal Reserve supported the greenback.
USD/JPY hit 110.45 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s highest since April 28; the pair subsequently consolidated at 110.37, gaining 0.39%.
The pair was likely to find support at 108.69, the low of May 18 and resistance at 111.19, the high of April 29.
The greenback remained supported after the Fed’s April meeting minutes on Wednesday showed that officials said a June rate hike would be appropriate if economic data indicated that growth was picking up in the second quarter and employment and inflation were firming.
In addition, New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said on Thursday that the U.S. economy could be strong enough to warrant a rate hike in June or July.
Meanwhile, the yen remained under pressure despite data on Wednesday showing that Japan’s economy grew by an annualized 1.7% in the three months to March, well ahead of forecasts for a 0.2% increase.
However, private consumption, which makes up 60% of gross domestic product, rose just 0.5% after a 0.8% fall in the previous quarter.
The weak private consumption data kept alive expectations that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may delay a planned sales tax hike next year.
The yen was lower against the euro, with EUR/JPY advancing 0.65% to 124.01.