The dollar fell broadly on Thursday, hitting a 15-month low against the yen as U.S. bond yields rose after a report showing that inflation rose at a faster than expected pace last month.
USD/JPY was down 0.72% to 106.23 by 03:15 AM ET (08:15 AM GMT), the weakest level since Nov. 11, 2016. The dollar has fallen more than 2% against the Japanese currency in February.
Expectations for a continued expansion in the U.S. budget deficit pressured the dollar lower as bond yields rose. A recovery in risk appetite also weighed on the greenback.
The U.S. currency attracted safe haven demand during the stock market downturn seen earlier this month, although it had fallen to a three-year low in January.
On Wednesday, the dollar initially climbed after data showing a stronger-than-expected increase in U.S. inflation in January bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates four times this year.
But the dollar’s gains were short lived and the greenback turned broadly lower in spite of the change in expectations for U.S. rate hikes.
Expectations for a faster rate of rate hikes drove the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield to a four-year high of 2.928%. If the 10-year Treasury yield reaches 3% it could trigger further market volatility, analysts say.
The steep drop in the dollar against the yen in recent sessions has fueled expectations for a verbal intervention by Japanese officials.
On Thursday Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said that he doesn’t see current yen moves as being strong or weak enough to warrant intervention, adding that there was no plan now to respond to exchange rate moves.
Investors tend to seek out the yen in times of market turbulence as the currency is backed by Japan’s current account surplus, which offers it more resilience than currencies of deficit-running countries.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.35% to 88.60 after losing 0.76% on Wednesday.
The euro pushed higher, with EUR/USD rising 0.4% to 1.2499 after climbing 0.94% in the previous session.
Sterling was also higher, with GBP/USD up 0.36% to 1.4043 after ending the previous session up 0.89%.
