NEW YORK: The US dollar topped 100 yen for the first time in more than four years on Thursday as Tokyo's aggressive stimulus efforts to reflate the Japanese economy continue to depress its currency.
The dollar at 1410 GMT was trading at 100.67 yen, up from 99.01 late Wednesday and below 78 yen in late September 2012. The dollar last traded above 100 yen in April 2009.
The sharp increase in the dollar versus the yen follows an aggressive bond-buying program unveiled in April by Japan's central bank that by some benchmarks dwarfs the size of US quantitative easing.
The yen has fallen steadily since November, but the currency's drop accelerated in the wake of the Bank of Japanese stimulus plan, and currency watchers had widely expected the dollar to bust the 100 yen mark.
Central banks around the world have increasingly turned to low interest rates and other stimulus measures to catalyze their slumping economies. On Thursday, South Korea became the latest country to surprise markets by cutting interest rates.
<Center><b><i>Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013</b></i></center>
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