Dollar Tops 149.90 Yen to Rewrite 32-Year Highs in Tokyo Morning

Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)--The dollar gained further ground in Tokyo trading Thursday morning, hitting fresh 32-year highs above 149.90 yen.

Dollar purchases for yen increased on expectations for wider gaps between U.S. and Japanese interest rates following a further rise in long-term U.S. Treasury bond yields in off-hours trading.

At noon, the dollar stood at 149.91-92 yen, up from 149.34-34 yen at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

"Excess volatility (in exchange rates) stemming from speculative trading can never be tolerated," Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the country's parliament, on Thursday.

"We are ready to take appropriate action," he added, indicating Japanese authorities' intention to step into the foreign exchange market to buy yen for dollars if needed.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]