Yen rose in Asian trade on Thursday against a basket of major rivals, on track for the first profit in three sessions against the US dollar amid attempts to move away from four-week lows.

The gains came as Japanese 10-year treasury yields spike to 13-year highs, underpinning the yen.

The Price

The USD/JPY pair fell 0.25% to 157.26, with a session-high tt 157.67.

The yen lost 0.3% against the dollar on Wednesday, plumbing a four-week low at 157.71 yen per dollar.

Japanese Yields

Japans 10-year treasury yields rose by 1.85% on Thursday to a 13-year peak at 1.104%, underpinning the yen.

Such developments came amid expectations the Bank of Japan will cut down its purchases of government bonds at its June meeting.

US Yields

US 10-year treasury yields continued to trade near four-week high at 4.638% ahead of more important clues on the path ahead for US monetary policies.

Later today, crucial US GDP growth data and unemployment claims data will be released.

The Yield Gap

The 10-year government bond yield gap between the US and Japan is stabilizing around 340-350 basis points in favor of the US, the lowest such gap since 2020.

Moves by Japanese Authorities

Its clear that Japanese policymakers are focusing further on structural changes to the economy to underpin the yen in the forex market, as simple direction interventions have limited impact.

Its likely that Japanese data scheduled for release on Friday will show Japan has spent nearly 9 trillion yen in the past few weeks to slow down the decline of the yen, which plumbed a 34-year nadir against the dollar at 160.