Currency markets tell Kuroda he can't turn back the clock on yen

Tokyo

CURRENCY traders are writing off Haruhiko Kuroda's ability to weaken the yen the way he did in 2014, when he expanded his record monetary stimulus programme.

While the Bank of Japan governor won't step up bond purchases at Friday's gathering, he'll have to act later in the year to get to his inflation target, according to economists surveyed in the past week by Bloomberg. A stronger currency may stymie his efforts.

The yen already climbed more than one per cent against the dollar this year, outstripping all but one of its major peers as investors sought a haven from financial-market turmoil. It's the only major curren…