Ammon News - The Japanese yen traded around five-month lows on Monday against a dollar underpinned by rising U.S. yields as thin year-end liquidity kept most currencies in tight ranges.

The yen was changing hands at 157.82 with only the risk of Japanese intervention preventing another test of the 160 level last seen in July.

The dollar index measure against major rivals was flat at 107.99.

The euro stood at $1.0429 , not far from recent troughs and in a holding pattern in holiday trading. The currency is heading for a calendar-year drop of roughly 5.5% on the dollar.

Rising U.S. Treasury yields have been a tailwind for the dollar, with the benchmark 10-year note hitting a more than seven-month high last week. The yield hovered close to that mark on Monday, at 4.625%.

For the month, the dollar index is up 2.3%, bringing year-to-date gains to 6.6%.

Barring the yen, currency moves in major markets were tepid last week. The yen fell 0.9%, the euro shed 0.2% and sterling rose 0.1% while the dollar index climbed 0.2%.

The next interest rate cut by the European Central Bank could be longer in coming after a recent uptick in inflation, ECB Governing Council member Robert Holzmann was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin too was sluggish around $93,052, and is down about 4% on the month after retreating from a record high of $108,379.28 hit on Dec. 17. It has surged about 115% so far this year.

Reuters