TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - The dollar/yen held its strong tone, breaching the 133 level, with corrective dips in the US unit remaining shallow due to substantial buying by laggard investors, dealers said. The Japanese government has said the yen's fall is a long-term downward correction, while officials from Asian countries and the US have been silent on any concerns they may have over a competitive devaluation. Investors had been targeting technical positions at the 133 yen level -- after the dollar reached 132.90 in late New York trade -- and will be next focused on the 135 yen level, dealers said. Standard and Poor's MMS managing analyst Hideki Naito said the sharp move that started yesterday is due to an absence of major profit-taking on earlier dollar gains, suggesting plenty of latent buying interest. "At the start of this week, everyone thought the dollar/yen would have deeper corrective dips ... but it failed to push below 130 yen," Naito said. "The weakening of the yen started in the beginning of December or late November so there are still laggard buyers appearing on any dips. Deeper corrective dips look difficult," he said. Domestic investors, such as exporters and portfolio managers, are trying to catch up with the market, buying the dollar any time it dips to cheaper levels because they expect the US currency to continue firmer. Meanwhile, the government is quietly encouraging the yen to weaken. "Non-Japanese accounts had to take more (dollar)-long positions and Japanese investors joined the market to unwind excessive hedging," Naito said. "As long as Japanese officials take the same line -- that the yen's fall is in line with bearish fundamentals -- corrective selling will be unlikely." Naito said that once the 133 yen level has been clearly breached, along with "option strikes and knock out barriers", the next target will be 135 yen. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has scheduled visits to Southeast Asian nations this week and the market had expected the administration to be wary of being seen as pushing the yen lower in the face of opposition in the region. However, these hopes were upset by vice minister for international affairs Haruhiko Kuroda, who said the yen is simply correcting its overvaluation, while the key regional players have kept criticism to a minimum. "The only concern is our neighbours -- Korea and China -- but this year we have not heard anything from them," Naito said. The euro/dollar continued to weaken following the European currency's failure to benefit, as some had hoped, from the introduction of euro notes and coins. "Maybe an 88-91 cent range can be a wide trading range," Naito said.