LONDON, June 9 Reuters The euro held near its highest point in 712 years versus Japan39;s yen on Thursday before a potentially pivotal European Central Bank rate decision, with policymakers expected to announce an end to the bank39;s multiyear monetary stimulus.

The ECB is all but certain to flag an end to its longrunning asset purchase programme at the end of this month, and promise an interest rate hike for July, but the size and pace of its tightening are uncertain.

A hawkish Federal Reserve and soaring inflation has upped the pressure on Frankfurt to raise rates, with markets expecting more than 135 bps of cumulative rate hikes by end of the year.

Should the ECB decide to bring forward the timing for tightening policies, then we can expect more substantial gains for the single currency, said Ricardo Evangelista, a senior analyst at ActivTrades based in London.

In contrast, the Bank of Japan has been relatively sanguine about the yen39;s drop. Governor Kuroda said on Wednesday that the yen weakening was positive to the economy as long as moves were stable, while adding that FX policy was not the authority of the BOJ. 

The euro was trading at 142.76 yen, just below a January 2015 high of 144.25 yen hit on Wednesday. The Japanese currency has weakened more than 4 versus the euro so far this month.

Against the U.S. dollar, the yen extended its slide, falling to a fresh 20year low of 134.56 yen per dollar in early trade before recovering to 133.79.

It is not far…