Dollar near 20year high
Dovish BOJ pounds yen to 20yr low of 131dollar
Euro STOXX 600 up 1.2
Nasdaq futures rise on Facebook results

LONDON, April 28 Reuters The dollar was on the cusp on Thursday of its highest in two decades after the Bank of Japan doubled down on its ultra loose monetary policy, while technology stocks gained on strong earnings, led by a rally in Facebook parent Meta Platforms.

The yen dropped to a 20year low and breached 131 per dollar, levels that had previously been highlighted as intervention territory, after the Bank of Japan vowed to buy unlimited amounts of 10year bonds daily to defend its yield target.

The fall of the Japanese currency sent the U.S. dollar towards its highest in almost twenty years, weakened emerging market currencies and pushed borrowing costs for U.S. dollars in currency derivatives markets sharply higher. 

The BoJ39;s move was in stark contrast with investors39; conviction that U.S. interest rates are about to start going up fast and it jolted the dollar higher.

The message from the monetary policy statement this morning is that the Bank of Japan refuses to budge, sticking with its unlimited bond buying plan to defend the 0.25 10year yield target, said Arne Petimezas, senior analyst at AFS Group.

The euro hit a fiveyear low against the dollar of 1.0481 before creeping back above 1.05, but was still on track for its worst monthly performance since January 2015.

The euro39;s drop to its lowest since 2017 is…