Dollar Falls below 158.50 Yen in Tokyo Morning

Tokyo, Aug. 20 (Jiji Press)–The dollar fell below 158.50 yen in Tokyo foreign exchange trading Thursday morning, reflecting a drop in U.S. long-term interest rates. At 10 a.m., the dollar stood at 158.39-41 yen, down from 159.16-17 yen at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Yen buying for dollars spread amid speculation for a narrower gap between U.S. and Japanese interest rates after the U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it will expand the size of its buybacks of government debt securities. Japan’s long-term interest rates also went down. The yield on the most recent issue of 10-year Japanese government bonds, regarded as the country’s benchmark long-term interest rate, dropped to 2.830 pct in interdealer trading Thursday. Still, there has been no change in the overall circumstances surrounding financial markets, such as global inflation concerns, which are behind the yen’s recent weakening and rising interest rates, and the expansionary fiscal policy of the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. An official at a foreign exchange margin trading service company said that the effect of the U.S. Treasury’s decision to increase debt securities buybacks in curbing interest rate rises will likely be “temporary.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]