Early trade in New York: dollar comes off four-year peak against yen just below 100

The dollar on Thursday moved off a four-year high against the yen, but still looked bound to climb above the key 100 yen level as traders bet the Bank of Japan's aggressive monetary easing will trigger further yen weakness. The euro, meanwhile, climbed to a six-week peak against the dollar as Italian three-year debt costs eased to their lowest since January at an auction.
The euro also hit a more than three-year high against the yen on Thursday. The dollar was last trading down 0.3 percent at 99.41 yen, after having risen as high as 99.87 yen on Wednesday to its highest level since April 2009. The euro rose to its highest against the yen in more than three years, hitting 130.82 yen on Reuters data, and was last trading up 0.1 percent on the day at 130.50. Against the dollar, the euro rose 0.4 percent to $1.3122, after a session peak of $1.3138, the highest since the end of February.