Dollar Closes at 158.672 Yen as Japanese Currency Falls 0.47% in Tuesday Session
Key Facts
The dollar closed at 158.672 yen on November 3, 2026, up from 157.932 yen in the previous session, according to EL7 data. In the same session, the yen fell 0.47% to 158.66 per dollar, according to Reuters via MarketScreener. FOREX.com said the Japanese currency weakened broadly on Tuesday despite mixed performance on Wall Street. The note said the move was not simply a reflection of risk appetite. Attention therefore focused on the yen’s performance in the foreign exchange market, while the Bank of Japan’s latest decision and the domestic inflation backdrop remained central to traders’ assessment.
The dollar moved in a session marked by limited volatility in currency markets, with the U.S. currency alternating between modest gains and losses as investors tracked the possibility of a U.S.-Iran deal and the results of the U.S. midterm elections, according to Reuters. The dollar index rose 0.07% to 101.83 points, while the euro gained 0.07% to $1.1193. This coincided with the yen’s 0.47% decline against the dollar to 158.66. The moves show mixed performance among major currencies during the session, with the yen continuing to weaken against the dollar. FOREX.com had described the Japanese currency’s weakness as broad despite mixed U.S. stock performance.
On October 30, the Bank of Japan decided to guide the uncollateralized overnight call rate to around 1.25%, after the board voted 8-1. Board member Hajime Takata opposed the decision, proposing that the guidance be raised to around 1.5%. Takata said the bank should accelerate the convergence of interest rates toward the neutral level. The decision kept the interest rate at the announced level, but revealed differences within the board over the pace of monetary tightening. The split forms part of the backdrop as currency markets track Japan’s policy path, alongside inflation data and forecasts.
In its October Outlook Report, the bank raised its median forecast for core inflation, excluding fresh food, for fiscal 2027 to 2.6%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from its July forecast. It kept its estimate for fiscal 2026 at 2.5% and for fiscal 2028 at 2.0%. The bank said price risks were skewed to the upside, and inflation could clearly exceed 2% in the first half of the projection period before declining toward around 2% in the second half. It attributed the pressures to higher oil and semiconductor prices, among other factors, and to the weaker yen. It added that persistent labor shortages support wage-price interactions, while medium- and long-term inflation expectations are around 2%.
In another October decision, the Bank of Japan announced that it would increase the pace of exchange-traded fund sales to around 860 billion yen a year at book value, compared with around 330 billion yen a year at the previous pace. The new sales represent around 0.1% of market trading value, versus around 0.05% previously. The bank said the change would begin in January 2027. The move joins the interest rate decision and price forecasts among the monetary policy issues investors are tracking. The bank set an upcoming date for publication of a summary of board members’ opinions, followed by the meeting minutes.
The Bank of Japan set November 10 at 8:50 a.m. Japan time for publication of the summary of opinions from its October meeting, and December 23 at the same time for publication of the meeting minutes. The two documents are expected to present board members’ positions and details of the discussions surrounding the rate decision. In the United States, Reuters reported that job openings increased by 333,000 to 7.523 million in the September report, exceeding economists’ estimates of 7.100 million. The report was the first in a series of labor market data releases culminating in the government’s jobs report on Friday. Ahead of the midterm election results, FOREX.com forecast an implied range of 112 points for dollar-yen and 92 points for euro-dollar during election night.