Dollar drops vs yen as boj's kuroda plays down 'helicopter money'

Getty Images The dollar slipped from a six-week high against the yen on Thursday after Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda said the bank saw no need to stimulate the economy with

"helicopter money." After falling by 1 percent against the Japanese currency following the comment in a BBC Radio 4 interview, the dollar pared its losses as the overall theme of

dollar strength against other major currencies began to reappear. Investors had been betting on an aggressive round of stimulus from next week's BOJ meeting. Kuroda played down the idea

of injecting cash directly to businesses and consumers, leading to a yen surge as strong as 105.41 yen per dollar. The BBC later said its interview with Kuroda had been conducted in

mid-June, helping cool the yen's gains. The dollar had touched a six-week high above 107 before Kuroda's interview was broadcast on reports that a fiscal stimulus package from

Tokyo might be as much as twice as large as previously suggested. Analysts said the move lower in the dollar against the yen may have been based more on technical positioning and "steam

being let out of the dollar's rally," than expectations that the BOJ is rethinking its bias to ease monetary policy. "As the dust settles here I think we'll be left with

the story of broad dollar strength," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. "The yen's gains today I would call that more of a

profit-taking, positioning move as opposed to any meaningful reversal in the overall trend." The euro was little changed against the dollar, surrendering most of its gains from

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's comments that the bank would take time to reassess any changes in the economic outlook. The ECB held off on any immediate further easing

of monetary policy, as expected. The biggest decline among the major currencies came in the New Zealand dollar, last down 0.56 percent to $0.6986, having touched a six-week low of $0.6949.

It was the seventh straight session that the kiwi has turned lower. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand used an unusual between-meeting update on policy to say further rate cuts are likely. That

cemented expectations for easing at its Aug. 11 meeting.