The dollar strengthened 0.22% to 146.18 yen in Asian trading, after pushing as high as 146.39 for the first time since August 1998. The Japanese currency is particularly sensitive to the gap between U.S. and Japanese long-term bond yields. Japanese authorities staged their first yen-buying intervention since 1998 on Sept. 22, when the yen tumbled to as low as 145.90 per dollar. Elsewhere, sterling which earlier touched $1.0925, marking a fresh low since Sept. 29, bounced 0.4% to $1.1008 after the FT report. The euro slumped to its weakest since Sept. 29 overnight at $0.9670 and remained not far from that level, trading 0.08% lower than Tuesday's close at $0.96975.

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