The yen hit a fresh 24-year low in the lower 146 zone against the U.S. dollar Wednesday morning in Tokyo, stirred by prospects that the Federal Reserve will continue raising interest rates aggressively to tame inflation.
The yen fell beyond 145.90, the level at which Japan conducted a yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention last month for the first time since 1998, aiming to stop a further decline of the Japanese currency.
Tokyo stocks were almost flat in the morning, with market participants refraining from active trading ahead of U.S. inflation data to be released later this week.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 37.00 points, or 0.14 percent, from Tuesday to 26,364.25. The broader Topix index was down 0.93 point, or 0.05 percent, at 1,870.31.
On the top-tier Prime Market, decliners were led by mining, metal product, and oil and coal product issues.
