Japanese yen drops past 160 to fresh 34-year low against US dollar

The Japanese yen briefly dropped past 160 to the US dollar on Monday morning, marking another fresh 34-year low against the greenback, Report informs via Nikkei.

The yen fell past 171 per euro, an all-time low since the European currency was launched in 1999.

The slide comes after the Bank of Japan on Friday stood pat after a two-day monetary policy meeting. At a press conference following the meeting, Gov. Kazuo Ueda said the weak yen has "no significant impact on underlying price inflation" -- a comment that led market players to expect no rate hikes any time soon.

Monday is a national holiday in Japan but currency traders remain active overseas. The yen was hovering in the mid-155-yen range before the BOJ announced its decision.

The sharp depreciation of the yen has increased market speculation that the Japanese government and the BOJ will intervene in the foreign exchange market to buy the currency, though Japanese authorities have refrained from intervening for months now while the yen has plummeted.

The yen's dive reflects the strong dollar, and the exchange rate has been greatly reacting to U.S. economic data. On Wednesday, the US Institute for Supply Management is to release its manufacturing PMI. If the reading goes above 50, it will remind the market that the US economy is solid.

By this gauge, 50 is considered the line between favorable and unfavorable economic conditions.

Also on Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve is to announce results of a policy board meeting. The Fed is not expected to move this time, but the dollar might further strengthen if Fed Chair Jerome Powell makes hawkish remarks after the meeting.

"The recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it's likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence," the chair said on April 16, suggesting that the Fed might need more time to start cutting rates.