The yen appreciated against the U.S. dollar in New York on Friday, briefly reaching a three-week high in the upper 151 range after the latest labor data suggested a weaker-than-expected situation in nonfarm payrolls.
The yen's high for the day was 151.86 per dollar, a level that has not been seen since April 10, and it was quoted at 152.90-153.00 at 5 p.m. in New York, compared with 153.61-71 late Thursday. Tokyo markets were closed Friday for a national holiday.
The U.S. Labor Department said the country added 175,000 jobs in April, far below the market projection of 243,000. Analysts and investors believe the sagging employment figure could ease stubborn inflation and prompt the Federal Reserve to begin cutting the key interest rate, currently at a 23-year high.
As Japan maintains ultraeasy monetary policy, the prolonged wide rate gap between the two economies has encouraged investors to buy the dollar for the yen.
In other Asian markets on Friday, the yen advanced to the upper 152 range against the dollar for the first time in nearly three weeks.
The yen weakened to the lower 160 range on Monday, a level unseen in the past 34 years, after the Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged at a meeting late last week.
But the yen soon rebounded sharply, prompting market participants to speculate that the Japanese government and the BOJ had intervened to buy the yen for the dollar.
A similar sudden appreciation of the Japanese currency was also seen late Wednesday in New York, pushing the currency by more than 4 yen to 153.00 per dollar and stirring belief that Japanese authorities may have stepped in again.
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