Sentiment was undermined by fears strict lockdown measures will spread to Beijing, after the capital required everyone living or working in Chaoyang district to take Covid tests this week

Though deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara repeated Tokyo's common refrain that sharp moves in currency rates were undesirable

But falls were limited by China surprisingly keeping its benchmark lending rates steady for the third straight month at its April fixing

The greenback hits a 20-year high on the yen and tests a two-year peak on the euro, backed by high Treasury yields and expectation of good economic data; Investors are betting the yen will fall further

The yen has dropped about 10% against the dollar this year and worsened inflationary pressures in Japan amid a spike in commodity and oil costs, and supply snags made worse by war in Ukraine

Traders bought the yen on Kuroda's comment, and helped push the dollar down by 0.22% to 126.28 yen on Monday

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also said the recent rise in domestic inflation was due mostly to the global spike in crude oil and raw material costs, rather than the weak yen

Futures on treasury bonds rose after the announcement, aimed at fighting surging inflation, while the won barely moved against the US dollar

Fitch Ratings said has downgraded Sri Lanka's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating, reflecting its view that a sovereign default process has begun

The yen was trading at more than 126 against the dollar at one time, reaching the lowest level since May 2002

Former Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam says US sanctions against Russia will undermine the dollar.

Saddled with a huge foreign exchange crisis, Sri Lanka on Tuesday suspended servicing external public debt pending the completion of its IMF discussions