The yen steadied in early European deals on Wednesday, after a brief jump in Asian trading driven by the Bank of Japan’s confirmation it saw no need to print more money to stimulate the economy.

With all eyes fixed on Greek and euro zone politicians’ efforts to steer a way to a new deal on Greece’s international bailout, the euro was trading firmly in the middle of a 2-cent range it has held for more than three weeks.

Price action generally was limited but the yen did blip higher after the BoJ’s decision to keep policy steady. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he saw no immediate need to expand monetary stimulus again with inflation heading up towards his 2 per cent target, though he said the BoJ “would not hesitate’’ if the inflation outlook changed.

As with the euro, a period of relative stability for the yen has raised some doubts over how fast even the United States’ better economic performance will drive further gains for the dollar after a surge since the middle of last year.

“With the economy near full employment to case for further yen weakness is less compelling,’’ strategists from French bank BNP Paribas said in a morning note. They still recommended adding to short positions betting on more yen weakness but emphasised the move would now be gradual.

“Rising US front-end yields should encourage further capital outflows from Japan and a rebuilding of short yen positions among FX market participants from the current moderate level of -2 on our positioning monitor.’’

Dealers said the yen should be stuck in the current range for longer. It traded just over 0.1 per cent higher at 119.09 yen per dollar by 0825 GMT.

“It seems to me we are going to tumble between roughly 117-120 yen for a while and the moment it looks like pushing on through 120 some comment will come out, as happened last week, to dampen things,’’ said a spot dealer at one international bank in London.

“The Japanese authorities clearly like a weak yen, but it has all been a bit too quick for the economy to adjust.’’

Although Greece rejected a proposal to request a six-month extension of its international bailout on Monday, market players are betting that an agreement will be reached in the next couple of weeks.

All eyes are on the European Central Bank on Wednesday, with sources telling Reuters that Germany’s Bundesbank is leading opposition to increasing the €65 billion that the Greek central bank can give its struggling banks.

Without an increase, the banks face a tightening squeeze as deposits continue to stream out, potentially forcing Athens to introduce capital controls if there is no deal in Brussels this month.

The euro fell 0.2 per cent on the day to $1.1390.

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