The yen fell for the first time in three days against the dollar as Japanese officials reinforced their commitment to policies that may weaken the currency. Japan’s currency slid against all of its 16 major counterparts after Economy Minister Akira Amari was reported by Kyodo news as saying the government will continue efforts to push stocks higher, and as one of the potential candidates to head the central bank said additional monetary easing can be justified. The euro advanced from a two-week low against the dollar before ministers from the 17-member currency bloc meet in Brussels today to discuss aid for Cyprus and Greece. “The yen’s weakening trend remains extremely solid,� said Ian Stannard, the London-based head of European foreign-exchange strategy at Morgan Stanley. Amari’s comments are “reinforcing the market’s perception that Japan is very determined to put the policy in place to bring the economy out of deflation.� The yen fell 0.6 percent to 93.22 per dollar at 10:33 a.m. London time after jumping 1 percent on Feb. 8. Japan’s currency dropped 0.8 percent to 124.82 per euro. The shared currency strengthened 0.2 percent to $1.3388 after declining to $1.3325, the lowest since Jan. 24. Stannard estimated the yen will weaken to 95 per dollar and around 130 per euro. The yen has tumbled 6.9 percent against the dollar this year in anticipation of the greater monetary stimulus advocated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The government will continue in its efforts to drive the Nikkei to 13,000 by the end of the fiscal year on March 31, Amari said two days ago, Kyodo news reported. The Nikkei index closed at 11,153 last week. Japanese markets are shut today for a public holiday. ADB Chief Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, a potential candidate to head Japan’s central bank, said in an interview in Tokyo today that the Bank of Japan has “many� policy tools to achieve its 2 percent inflation target. Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Japan Economist Hiromichi Shirakawa has said Kuroda is “the leading candidate� to succeed current BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who will step down on March 19. Futures traders increased their bets that the euro will gain against the U.S. dollar, figures from the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission show. The difference in the number of wagers by hedge funds and other large speculators on an advance in the euro compared with those on a drop -- so- called net longs -- was 37,952 on Feb. 5, compared with net longs of 27,472 a week earlier. That’s the most since April 2011. To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

Source