LONDON (SHARECAST) - The Japanese yen rose across the board on Wednesday, shrugging off earlier weakness, following the Bank of Japan's surprise expansion of its asset-purchase programme.
The yen had initially fallen to a one-month low against the dollar after the BoJ move, which comes just a week after the Federal Reserve's bold quantitative easing announcement.
However the Japanese currency started to recover ground on Wednesday as the ¥10 trillion in asset purchases, around double what some had anticipated, was deemed not as bold as moves by other central banks such as the Fed.
The dollar had risen to ¥79.22 straight after the BoJ announcement but later traded at around ¥78.33, down around 0.7%.
Meanwhile the dollar slipped against the euro as investors cheered the latest US economic data. The dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six currencies, fell to 79.112 versus 79.227 on Tuesday.
The euro bought $1.3052 from $1.3041 the previous session and erased earlier gains against the yen. The euro fell 0.5% against the yen on Wednesday at ¥102.30 after striking an earlier high of ¥103.64 while sterling was down 0.9% at ¥126.95.
The euro has enjoyed a good run-up recently and many believe weakness yesterday was caused by caution over whether Spain officially asks for financial aid.
Against the dollar, the pound bought $1.6218 versus $1.6245 the day earlier.