The rally in the yen spilled over into a second day as traders wagered that the Bank of Japan will scrap the world’s last negative interest-rate regime much sooner than previously thought.
The currency advanced as much as 1.1% against the dollar on Friday, after briefly jumping almost 4% during the New York session.
The outsize move Thursday may have been amplified by speculators closing bearish wagers on the yen, after leveraged funds boosted these to the highest level in more than a year last week. There were also suggestions that a lack of liquidity and algorithmic trading exacerbated the spike.