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Tokyo -The dollar eased further against the yen in Asia Thursday after Japan's central bank left its vast monetary easing programme unchanged.
The greenback changed hands at ¥98.62 in Tokyo afternoon trade after tumbling to ¥99.59 in New York late Wednesday from ¥101 in Tokyo earlier in the day.
The euro bought $1.3111 and ¥129.30, compared with $1.3013 and ¥129.59.
The dollar faced selling pressure in New York after comments from Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke suggested the central bank's huge stimulus programme would stay in place for some time.
Traders moved out of the US unit after Bernanke poured cold water on the likelihood of a wind-down to the Fed's $85-bn-a-month bond-buying programme put in place in September to kickstart the US economy.
The dollar-selling momentum remained strong after the Bank of Japan on Thursday left its vast monetary easing programme unchanged and boosted its assessment of the economy.
"In the long run, players appear to be adjusting their dollar-long position to get back to neutral after the dollar topped ¥100," said Daisuke Karakama, market economist at forex division of Mizuho Bank.
"Since there was no surprise in the BoJ announcement, the selling pressure, which was created by the (Bernanke) comment overnight, has continued," Karakama said.
Bernanke insisted the easy-money policy was still necessary, because the jobs market remained weak and inflation was too low for comfort.
"Both the employment side and the inflation side are saying that we need to be more accommodating," he said, answering questions after a speech.
"Moreover, the other portion of macroeconomic policy, fiscal policy, is now actually quite restrictive.... Put that all together, I think you can only conclude that highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what's needed in the US economy," he said.
"Highly accommodative" policy could be interpreted differently but "the use of the word 'highly' by hawkish chairman Bernanke may make the market reassess its projection of tapering timing", Hiromichi Shirakawa, research analyst at Credit Suisse, said in a note.
The market consensus had been for the bank to start reeling in the spending in September but players may now expect a move in October or December, he said.
The dollar was mostly lower against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It declined to 59.53 rupees Thursday afternoon from 60.09 rupees the previous day, to Sg$1.2612 from Sg$1.2766, to Tw$29.84 from Tw$30.05 and to 1 123.44 South Korean won from 1 136.50 won.
It also slipped to 31.05 Thai baht from 31.27 baht and to 43.20 Philippine pesos from 43.35 pesos but rose to 9,983 Indonesian rupiah from 9 981 rupiah.
The Australian dollar rose to 92.86 US cents from 92.09 cents, while the Chinese yuan changed hands at ¥16.05, compared with ¥16.49.
