The Japanese yen held its recent decline to around 144.9 per dollar on Wednesday, hovering near a two-week low as optimism over US-China trade negotiations reduced demand for safe-haven assets. The two countries reportedly reached an agreement to implement the Geneva consensus, with Beijing expected to lift restrictions on rare earth exports and Washington considering easing its curbs on advanced technology sales to China. On the domestic front, Japan’s producer prices rose 3.2% year-over-year in May, the slowest pace of growth in eight months, suggesting easing input cost pressures. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament on Tuesday that the central bank is prepared to raise interest rates again if there is sufficient confidence that underlying inflation is approaching or stabilizing around the 2% target.