London, Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)–The dollar briefly climbed above 158 yen in London trading Friday, the highest level in roughly two weeks. At 11 a.m., the greenback stood at 157.90-158.00 yen. Investors sold the yen as expectations for an early additional interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan receded after some BOJ policymakers voted against a rate hike at a policy-setting meeting through Friday, although the Japanese central bank decided to raise its policy interest rate by 0.25 percentage point to around 1.25 pct as widely expected. An official at a Japanese bank said BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda, at a press conference after the policy-setting meeting, signaled a cautious stance on accelerating the pace of rate hikes, which also prompted yen selling. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
