For yen traders, March used to be a time for extra vigilance. Traders knew they needed to be careful selling the currency because the nation's exporters would place big yen bids ahead of their financial year-end.
But a shift in the business landscape has changed all that, with manufacturers now having less money to repatriate after moving their production facilities abroad.
"Repatriation obviously still takes place this time of the year, but it's no longer a festive-type market event we used to see years ago," said Bart Wakabayashi, head of forex at State Street in Tokyo, referring to the inward flows before the close of the fiscal year on Monday.