JIJI PRESS
 
The dollar hit a seven-year high above ¥115 in Tokyo trading on Thursday, backed by overseas stock market gains following the U.S. midterm elections, as well as by the Bank of Japan’s expanded monetary easing.
 
The U.S. currency jumped to around ¥115.50 at one point around noon, topping the ¥115 threshold for the first time since November 2007. But it lost steam to stand at ¥114.45-46 at 5 p.m., against ¥114.41-45 the same time on Wednesday, due apparently to selling to lock in profits.
 
Since the Bank of Japan announced additional easing steps on Friday, the yen has weakened from levels around ¥109 per dollar.
 
The yen’s downswing accelerated after overseas stock price gains, with the Dow Jones industrial average rewriting its all-time high overnight on election results that gave U.S. Republicans control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
 
“Speculators stepped up dollar purchases versus the yen,” an official at a major Japanese bank said.
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference Thursday that the government will consider measures to deal with the weak yen’s impact on people’s lives.