The Japanese yen fell below 150 per dollar, a key psychological milestone, and reached levels not seen since August 1990.
Earlier, the central bank announced that it would conduct emergency bond-buying operations, committing to purchase approximately $667 million in government debt in an effort to stabilize bond prices.
Next week, the Bank of Japan will hold a two-day meeting. It was clear from Thursday’s move that the BOJ was maintaining its bond-buying and its long-standing “yield curve control” (YCC) policy, which keeps a yield on 10-year paper near 0%.
So far, there has been no sign of a policy shift from the central bank as it has consistently emphasized the necessity to keep policy ultra-loose.
Japan’s 10-year government debt yields on Thursday rose above the 0.255% threshold that the central bank had previously pledged to preserve. Furthermore, the yield on 20-year bonds reached its highest level since September 2015.
The yen was trading around 159.8 against the dollar in April 1990, having last surpassed 160 in December 1986.
