There's little Japan can do to halt yen's sharp rise: analysts

Tokyo

THE yen appeared on Friday to have gone into a state of "free rise", which some analysts said could take it all the way up to 100 to the dollar or even beyond, following the decision by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to hold off on further monetary easing the day before.

With Tokyo financial markets closed on the first day of the Golden Week holidays, the Japanese currency rose as high as 107.28 to the dollar by the close of trading in Sydney; it had been at 111.17 before Thursday's decision by the BOJ to stay further action. The yen also jumped against the euro.