The dollar slipped against the yen in Asian trading as Japanese exporters and some hedged funds sold dollars after the U.S. Federal Reserve's statement overnight signaled that its rate-hike campaign was nearing an end.
The U.S. dollar was trading at 117.14 yen on the Tokyo foreign exchange market at 3 p.m. (0600 GMT) Wednesday, down 0.09 yen from late Tuesday in New York.
The euro, meanwhile, remained almost unchanged against the dollar, moving within a narrow range due to a lack of compelling material to trade on. Wednesday afternoon, the euro was unchanged at US$1.2160 from New York overnight.
Dealers said the Fed acted almost exactly as market players had expected, raising interest rates by a quarter point to 4.5 percent and issuing a statement that suggested that could be the last move for awhile.
"The statement was a de facto acknowledgment that there is only a little room left for a further hike," said Masaki Fukui, senior vice president of the foreign exchange division at Mizuho Corporate Bank. That prompted Japanese exporters and short-term focused U.S. and European hedge funds to sell the dollar throughout the day, pushing it at one point to a low of 117.06 yen, dealers said. At that level, however, Japanese importers and interbank traders bought the U.S. currency, helping it to recover part of its losses, dealers said.
Now that the Fed meeting is over, market players are turning their attention to economic data due out this week, including Friday's U.S. jobs report.