Yen falls against dollar, euro

The yen Thursday tumbled to five-year lows against the euro and the dollar before recovering somewhat. Near 2300 GMT, the euro traded at 143.51 yen, up from 142.67 Tuesday, after earlier reaching as high as 143.53, the highest level in five years. The dollar rose to 104.82 yen from 104.34 yen after getting as high as 104.84 yen, also a five-year peak. The euro advanced to $1.3692 from $1.3678. The yen has been in retreat for most of 2013 in the wake of aggressive monetary stimulus measures enacted by the Bank of Japan to stimulate growth and prevent deflation. On Thursday, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe amid speculation more easing will be implemented next year. The outlook for the BOJ contrasts with that of the US Federal Reserve, which last week announced it would scale back its bond-buying program starting in January, said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange. "In contrast to the expectations for the Fed to continue removing policy accommodation throughout next year, the Bank of Japan is expected to maintain a historically accommodative policy stance, and could even add to stimulus," Esiner said. The British pound rose to $1.6413 from $1.6362. The dollar edged higher to 0.8964 Swiss franc from 0.8956.