By Supriya Singh,
The yen slightly slowed its slide but mostly remained under pressure around the 144 line against the U.S. dollar Thursday in Tokyo as verbal warnings from Japanese finance authorities apparently failed to significantly change the course of trading.
Tokyo stocks, meanwhile, rebounded sharply, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, with investors also buying battered shares after the benchmark Nikkei average ended at its lowest level in a month and a half on Wednesday.
The yen, which has repeatedly touched 24-year lows recently, neared the 145 mark overseas Wednesday on media reports that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue its aggressive interest rate hike at the central bank's policy meeting later this month.
In Tokyo, the yen found some support in the afternoon after the Bank of Japan and the Finance Ministry announced they would meet to discuss the yen's depreciation. It drew some buying to recover to 143.48 at one point.
The announcement fueled "speculation that they may take some measure to stop its fall," said Takuya Kanda, senior researcher at the Gaitame.com Research Institute.
But the yen soon lost the momentum and came under pressure again as few comments from a key official who attended the meeting sounded quite new.
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At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 143.81-83 yen compared with 143.72-82 yen in New York and 143.89-91 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The euro was quoted at $0.9981-9983 and 143.54-58 yen against $1.0003-0013 and 143.86-96 yen in New York and $0.9923-9925 and 142.79-83 yen in Tokyo late Wednesday afternoon.
The yen has fallen by about five yen against the dollar this week.
Investors are also awaiting remarks by Fed chair Jerome Powell at a monetary conference later in the day for clues to the central bank's further rate hikes.
"Mr. Powell is likely to maintain his hawkish stance but the market has already priced that in, so it is unlikely the dollar will draw further buying," said Yuji Saito, head of the foreign exchange department at Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank in Tokyo.
Investors are expected to adjust their position through the weekend, "which would lead the yen to rise to the mid-142 range," Saito added.
A wait-and-see mood also prevailed in the market as the European Central Bank will possibly raise interest rates later Thursday.
On the stock market, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 634.98 points, or 2.31 percent, from Wednesday at 28,065.28. The broader Topix index finished 41.97 points, or 2.19 percent, higher at 1,957.62.
Gainers were led by air transportation, pharmaceutical, and electric appliance issues on the top-tier Prime Market.
Stocks gained ground throughout the day, partly helped by a weak yen that continued to boost carmakers and other exporters on expectations of a rise in their overseas earnings when repatriated.
Airlines also helped the advance amid expectations that the sector will enjoy a rebound in travel demand after Japan on Wednesday further eased border restrictions that had been introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Japan Airlines surged 89 yen, or 3.6 percent, to 2,561 yen while ANA Holdings, the parent company of All Nippon Airways, was up 65 yen, or 2.5 percent, at 2,661 yen.
Technology shares inherited an upward momentum from New York where the Nasdaq index rebounded for the first time in eight trading days.
Semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron gained 900 yen, or 2.2 percent, to 42,450 yen, with chipmaker Screen Holdings climbing 150 yen, or 1.7 percent, to 9,140 yen.
Among Prime Market issues, advancing issues outnumbered decliners 1,703 to 103, while 31 ended unchanged.
Trading volume on the Prime Market rose to 1,207.65 million shares from Wednesday's 1,115.04 million.
The yield on the bellwether 10-year Japanese government bond was unchanged from Wednesday's close at 0.245 percent.
