TOKYO, June 21 Reuters The U.S. dollar pushed to a fresh eightweek top above 159 yen and clung close to a fiveweek peak to sterling on Friday, with the Federal Reserve39;s patient approach to cutting interest rates contrasting with more dovish stances elsewhere.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers including the yen, sterling, euro and Swiss franc, spiked 0.41 overnight, erasing declines for the week, following a second successive rate cut at the Swiss National Bank and hints from the Bank of England for a reduction in August.

Meanwhile, the yen has remained on the back foot after the Bank of Japan39;s decision last week to hold off on reducing bond buying stimulus until its July meeting.

As a result, traders punished the yen with renewed enthusiasm, driving it past the closely watched 159 per dollar level on Friday, said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG.

The BOJ39;s timeline is sharply out of sync with the markets, and this misalignment will likely force the BOJ to act to support the yen via currency intervention sooner than it might have needed to, Sycamore said.

The BOJ, at the behest of Japan39;s finance ministry, spent some 9.8 trillion yen 61.64 billion to yank the currency back from a 34year trough of 160.245 per dollar, reached on April 29.

Because of that, the U.S. Treasury on Thursday added Japan to a list of countries it is monitoring for potential labelling as a currency manipulator. China is among others on the…