LONDON, Aug 1 Reuters The U.S. dollar sank to its lowest in more than six weeks versus the Japanese yen on Monday as investors ramped up bets that aggressive Federal Reserve monetary policy would tip the economy into a recession.

With traditional market gauges of recession such as yield curve spreads pinned near their lowest levels this year, punters have ramped up bets in recent days that U.S. interest rates will peak by the end of 2022.

With China39;s official measure of factory activity contracting in July as fresh virus flareups weighed on demand, and German retail sales posting their biggest yearonyear slump since 1994, the sentiment was decidedly cautious in early London trading.

The dollar sank to its lowest level versus the yen since midJune at 132.07 , down more than 5 from a late 1998 peak of nearly 140 yen hit last month.

A broader index of the dollar against its rivals weakened 0.3 to 105.61, just shy of an early July low, as traders cut their long dollar positions, according to latest weekly positioning data.

Markets are now locking horns with central banks in terms of their efforts to aggressively hikes rates to try and rein in inflation, with markets taking an increasingly confident view that central banks will have to abandon their inflation quest due to looming recession risks, said Marc Ostwald, chief economist at ADM Investor Services.

The yield gap between 10year U.S. Treasuries and equivalent Japanese debt held near its tightest level in…