Investing.com - The safe haven yen rose against the dollar on Wednesday as concerns over global emerging markets lingered ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy statement later in the trading day.
USD/JPY was down 0.25% to 102.67 after rising to session highs of 103.45 earlier.
The U.S. central bank was expected to roll back its asset purchase program by another $10 billion, to $65 billion per month. The central bank announced the first cut to its stimulus program in December.
Concerns over emerging markets weighed on investor confidence as the Turkish lira retraced gains against the dollar, after spiking almost 4% overnight when Turkey’s central bank unveiled massive interest rate hikes.
Emerging markets economies have been hard hit in recent sessions by worries over the impact of cuts in Fed stimulus and concerns over a possible slowdown in China.
Elsewhere, EUR/USD was down 0.44% to 1.3610, while GBP/USD slid 0.23% to 1.6540. The euro's losses came after European Central Bank council member Christian Noyer said any rise in the currency's exchange rate would be negative.
USD/CHF was up 0.32% to 0.9001.
The Australian dollar was weaker against the U.S. dollar, with AUD/USD down 0.33% to 0.8763, after rising as high as 0.8826 following Turkey’s rate hike.
NZD/USD was up 0.19% to 0.8273. Demand for the kiwi continued to remain supported ahead of Thursday’s reserve bank policy meeting, with markets split on whether the central bank will raise rates at this meeting or in March.
The Canadian dollar was trading close to four-and-a-half-year lows against the U.S. dollar, with USD/CAD edging down 0.09% to 1.1143. The Canadian dollar remained under pressure amid expectations that rates will remain on hold for some time.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.29% to 80.87.