The yen and the dollar fell on Thursday, correcting some of the previous session's gains, while sterling extended gains after the Bank of England kept its quantitative easing target unchanged. A recovery in European stocks helped to buoy the euro and perceived higher risk currencies, which fell sharply on Wednesday as optimism about the global economy's recovery prospects waned and investors trimmed risk exposure.
Analysts noted, however, that the current moves are corrective and do not represent any fundamental shift in market sentiment. "We had a massive move yesterday and the market really needed to correct," Brown Brothers Harriman currency strategist Audrey Childe-Freeman said.
Sterling outperformed meanwhile after the BoE left its asset buying programme at 125 billion pounds, just as most in the market had expected the central bank to expand the total by 25 billion pounds. At 1150 GMT, the dollar rose 0.1 percent from late US trade to 92.94 yen, having hit a five-month trough of 91.80 on EBS trading systems the previous day. The euro climbed 0.8 percent to 129.91 yen after falling as low as 127.00 yen on Wednesday, its lowest since mid-May.
Wednesday's sharp rise in the yen prompted Japan's top government spokesman to say excessive foreign exchange moves were undesirable, while Japanese officials said they were keeping a close watch on currencies. The dollar index fell 0.7 percent to 80.194, while the euro was up 0.7 percent at $1.3978 after falling as low as $1.3830 on Wednesday.
Sterling jumped by 1.2 percent against the dollar to $1.6255 , while the euro lost 0.5 percent against the UK currency to 85.98 pence as the pound extended gains after the Bank of England policy decision. Among other currencies seen as higher risk, the Australian dollar recovered 0.7 percent to $0.7842, though analysts said the currency is highly sensitive to concerns about Australia's ties with its top trading partner China.
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