The yen hit an all-time low against the euro on Wednesday as news North Korea test-fired at least six missiles deepened losses stemming from expectations Japanese interest rates would only rise gradually. The euro climbed to a one-month high against the U.S. currency, boosted by speculation that the European Central Bank could signal a quickening in the pace of monetary tightening when it meets on Thursday. The yen has been under pressure this week as investors expect the Bank of Japan to take its time raising interest rates, currently at zero. Japan is expected to increase rates next week but that will still leave it far behind the ECB which looks set to tighten further from the current 2.75 percent. "Euro/yen has been trending upwards for a while and the test caused a few jitters. But it has already retraced as there is a reluctance to push it higher ahead of the ECB and (U.S. June) payrolls," said Daragh Maher, currency strategist at Calyon. "There is a greater chance of the ECB being more hawkish. A hike of some magnitude is priced in Japan but a 25 basis point hike is not fully priced in. So there is greater uncertainty surrounding the interest rate dynamics in Japan." The yen had fallen to a low of 147.31 per euro, its lowest since the single currency was launched in 1999, before trimming losses to 146.80 by 0810 GMT. Against the dollar it was down a quarter percent at 115.06 yen The euro was down 0.3 percent on the day at $1.2784 . A wave of safe-haven buying after the North Korean missile launches pushed the Swiss franc to a fresh eight-year high against the yen , while gold rose by more than 1 percent to a one-month high.