Tokyo: The dollar jumped above 144 yen in Tokyo trading Tuesday on receding speculation about an early policy revision by the Bank of Japan after the Japanese central bank decided to maintain its ultraeasy monetary policy at its latest policy-setting meeting.

At 5:30 p.m., the dollar stood at 144.46-47 yen, up sharply from 142.36-38 yen at 5 p.m. Monday.

The dollar briefly plunged to around 142.50 yen after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda held a press conference following the BOJ’s two-day Policy Board meeting that ended on Tuesday. But the U.S. currency later turned higher against the yen.

“There were no particular clues for paving the way for the BOJ to normalize its monetary policy,” an official at an asset management firm said of Ueda’s press conference.

Still, a Japanese bank official said that the yen is unlikely to lose ground excessively as Ueda did not rule out a possible policy normalization in January or later.

JIJI Press