The yen was on track for its biggest daily drop against the dollar in a month on Tuesday, March 12, as the latest comments from Japanese officials dampened bets of an imminent monetary policy shift by the Bank of Japan.
The dollar remained broadly steady ahead of key U.S. inflation data later in the day that will provide more clarity on when the Federal Reserve could begin its rate-cutting cycle this year.
The yen fell in the latest trading by 0.4% to 147.47 per dollar, and also fell by a similar percentage against the British pound.
The yen's decline came after comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, who on Tuesday gave a somewhat less optimistic assessment of the country's economy than he had in January.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki also said separately on Tuesday that Japan has not reached a stage where it can declare deflation over.
Currencies of the Old Continent
In the broader market, the euro retreated from a nearly two-month high hit last week to last trade at $1.0936.
Sterling rose 0.04% to $1.2816, but was some way off a more than seven-month peak hit on Friday.
Currencies other than the yen were little moved and the dollar halted recent losses ahead of U.S. inflation data later on Tuesday.
The Australian dollar fell 0.04% to $0.6612 and the New Zealand dollar fell 0.02% to $0.6169.
The dollar index rose 0.04% to 102.83, after hitting a near two-month low of 102.33 last week.
