BOJ bucks wave of tightening
Franc gains back towards twomonth high
Euro down 0.5, dollar up across the board

LONDONTOKYO, June 17 Reuters The Japanese yen fell as much as 1.9 on Friday after the Bank of Japan bucked a wave of tightening and stuck with its ultralow interest rate stance, as currency markets looked set for another volatile session after a spate of rate hikes this week.

The Swiss National Bank39;s surprise decision to raise rates by 0.5 continued to reverberate through markets, with the euro losing half a percent and the franc heading back towards twomonth highs hit immediately after Thursday39;s announcement.

Currency markets, facing the biggest run of monetary policy tightening for decades, are also having to contend with a massive drop in risk sentiment that has sent equity markets tumbling.

The Australian dollar, very sensitive to the broad global investment mood, dropped 0.9 to 0.6981 as stock markets in Asia tumbled following big falls on Wall Street on Thursday.

The U.S. dollar clawed its way back from a oneweek low against major peers, following a twoday slide after the Federal Reserve39;s midweek rate increase that, although the biggest since 1995, didn39;t exceed market expectations.

Against the yen, the greenback climbed 1.6 to 134.14 yen following a lot of volatility in the immediate aftermath of the BOJ39;s decision. Initially it extended gains to as much as 1.89 to reach 134.64.

The yen on Wednesday had reached a 24year low of 135.6…