The euro strengthened against the dollar again today, as investors squared positions ahead of the release of Federal Reserve minutes from its last meeting.
The euro briefly spiked up to the key 150 yen level, with yield differentials remaining a strong negative for the Japanese currency.
The Fed minutes due at late this afternoon open a busy week of economic data and comments from policymakers that will help clarify whether the Fed is likely to keep holding rates steady after pausing at 5.25 per cent in the August 8th meeting.
"Clearly, the dollar is giving up its gains from last week. The market is perhaps expecting to see the Fed today in the minutes to at least give further indication that we are at the peak in US rates," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign exchange research.
"There is some fear that we are going to see another soft jobs report as well at the end of the week."
Earlier today, the euro was up 0.4 per cent against the dollar at $1.2828.
The yen was broadly steady against the euro at 149.76 yen according, having earlier fallen as low as 150.04 - just one tick away from yesterday's record low of 150.05.
It hit a lifetime peak of 150.07 on electronic trading platform EBS. Technical analysts said charts pointed to more yen weakness versus the euro in the short-term, with 151.30 seen as a key technical level once the psychologically important 150 yen is conclusively breached.