SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: The Australian and New Zealand dollars jumped against the yen on Friday amid speculation Tokyo had intervened again, while expectations of rate hikes in Australia kept the Aussie buoyant on the U.S. currency. Talk of intervention swirled in the market after the Japanese currency bolted nearly a yen against the U.S. dollar in just one minute in the early afternoon. Although Tokyo did not confirm it had intervened, the size and speed of the move convinced many it had. Traders are wary of any large yen sell order after Tokyo intervened last week by selling the yen in waves to knock it off a 15-year peak. Fears that Tokyo would launch another bout of yen-selling helped the Australian dollar to jump as far as 81.10, from Thursday's 80.29. By late trade, it had retreated to 80.67. The New Zealand dollar also climbed as far as 62.12, from 61.62 earlier in the day, before easing to 61.74 in late session. "I suspect Tokyo did intervene but I'm not sure if it would be all that successful," said Jonathan Cavenagh, an analyst at Westpac. Cavenagh argued with many investors averse to buying the U.S. dollar right now for fear super-loose U.S. monetary policy would ease even further, Tokyo could struggle to pull the yen down against the U.S. currency. "I don't think Tokyo will be all that successful in getting a dramatic move higher," he said. Given that, Cavenagh said he still expected the Australian dollar to rise to 84 yen in the next two months, helped in part by the Australian dollar's strength against the U.S. currency. Indeed, a robust domestic economy and expectations Australian interest rates could rise as soon as next month helped the Aussie dollar to hold ground at $0.9507, in sight of a two-year high. It was up 1.3 percent for the week and 6.8 percent for the month. So buoyant is the Australian dollar's outlook for the year, especially with the gloom hanging over the U.S. currency, that some analysts have rushed to dramatically revise their forecasts. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, for one, changed its December forecast for the currency to $0.97, from $0.88 previously. It predicted the Aussie dollar could hit parity, or one-to-one against the U.S. dollar, by March. Just a month ago, many investors thought the currency looked pricey at $0.90 given fears of a second U.S. recession. The rates market was equally caught out by the turnaround in the mood in Australia in the past month. Investors have swung from betting on a rate cut in Australia this year to pricing in a 50-50 chance of a rate rise in October. In fact, Deustche Bank went as far as to say the market could soon start to speculate if the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would lift rates twice for the rest of the year. "Our assessment remains that one hike this year is most likely," it said in a note to clients.

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