LONDON, April 29 Reuters The pound reached its highest in around two weeks against the dollar and the euro at the start of a week packed with marketmoving events, and fell more than 1 against the yen, as traders said Japanese authorities intervened to support their currency.

The pound was last at 195 yen, down 1.22 on the day after briefly nudging above 200 yen in early Asia trade, its highest since 2008.

The volatility in the pound versus the yen was all about the yen side of the pair, as traders said Japanese authorities bought the yen, which is at its weakest against the dollar since 1990, as its weakening trend accelerated sharply in the last two sessions.

Versus the dollar, the pound was up 0.27 at 1.25275, its highest since April 12, a small recovery from fivemonth lows in mid April, when investors39; expectations the Bank of England would cut interest rates earlier than the Federal Reserve caused them to sell the pound.

Markets expect the Bank of England to start cutting rates in August, while the Fed is expected to wait until later in the year, causing the gap between U.S. and British government bond yields to widen.

Economic data since then however has helped the pound and the euro perform better than the gap between U.S. and European and British rates would indicate, MUFG analysts said in a note.

Cable the pound versus the dollar was trading closer to the 1.2000level when yield spreads were last at current levels just over a year ago, they wrote.

The…