The U.S. dollar fell sharply against the Japanese yen on Thursday as foreign exchange traders interpreted comments by Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda to suggest the central bank will soon end its negative interest rate policy.
The U.S. currency fell 2.6% against the yen (USD/JPY) in early trading on Thursday. The yen also gained strongly versus other rivals, climbing 2.4% against the euro and 2.7% on the U.K. pound.
Exchange traded funds that track both long and short positions on the yen were also big movers. ProShares UltraShort Yen (NYSE:YCS) fell 3.7%, while the ProShares Ultra Yen (NYSE:YCL), which tracks bullish interest, surged 3.5% early trading on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Invesco US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSE:UUP) was down 0.2% in early trading, while the Invesco US Dollar Index Bearish Fund (NYSE:UDN) gained 0.3%.
Policy Tightening Expected From BoJ
The moves were in response to comments from Governor Ueda on the sustainability of Japan’s negative rates policy. Ueda said that monetary ...