Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose to the highest level since October 2008 against the yen in post-holiday trade on Thursday, amid expectations that the Bank of Japan will have to expand its stimulus program in the coming months. During European morning trade, USD/JPY rose 0.4% to 104.79, the strongest level since October 5, 2008. Minutes of the BoJ’s most-recent meeting revealed that that not all board members were convinced that the country’s growth was on a long-term upward trend. The dollar was also slightly higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF easing up 0.06% to 0.8964. Meanwhile, the greenback was modestly lower against the euro and the pound, with EUR/USD adding 0.03% to 1.3685 and GBP/USD up 0.15% to 1.6375. Elsewhere, the greenback posted modest gains against the commodity-linked currencies. The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars were all lower, with AUD/USD shedding 0.45% to 0.8883, NZD/USD dipping 0.23% to 0.8165 and USD/CAD up 0.06% to 1.0640. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was flat at 80.67. The greenback remained supported after the Federal Reserve announced last week that it would reduce its USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program by USD10 billion in January, due to an improving economic outlook. The U.S. was to release weekly data on initial jobless claims later in the day. Trading volumes are expected to remain light as most market players are still off due to the Christmas holiday and as many traders already closed books to lock in profit before the end of the year.

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