By Suryatapa Bhattacharya 
 

TOKYO--The U.S. dollar made modest gains versus the yen in Asia trading Thursday, aided by renewed dollar-buying by corporations as the fiscal year end draws closer in Japan.

The dollar hit an intraday high of Y111.42 in mid-morning Tokyo trade, from Y111.05 late Wednesday in New York.

The WSJ Dollar index was up 0.9% at 90.14.

The dollar's latest gains against the yen could herald a fresh upward trend, said Gaitame.Com Research Institute analyst Takuya Kawabata. While the rise is helped by Japanese corporate players looking for dollars to settle regular commercial transactions at the end of the month and fiscal year, Mr. Kawabata said the break above Wednesday's high of Y111.31 showed the greenback's potential to gain further, past the Y111.50-range. Passing that mark would give a clearer indication of an upward trend. "We are seeing the possibility of a turnaround from the downtrend of the past two weeks," Mr. Kawabata said.

Even as the dollar steadied overnight following the selling in Asia on Wednesday, "the market has largely been positioned for the negatives," said Stephen Innes, head trader for Asia-Pacific at forex broker Oanda.

In the wake of the U.K. formally beginning a two-year process to exit the European Union, Mr. Innes indicated a slow move of the British pound toward $1.20, with $1.15 being tested next year. "As negotiations get into great detail, I don't see the pound holding up," Mr. Innes said.

Less-dovish central banks, requests for another Scottish independence vote and upcoming European elections--as well as Donald Trump's recent policy wobble--all promise to play long-term havoc on the pound. "Sterling has become a well-known political football," said Jamie Dutta, senior market analyst at Faraday Research. He also noted despite that, implied volatility was below long-term averages. That will increase, he said, and the pound will be "kicked around a lot more over the foreseeable future." After its slump following the Brexit vote, the pound traded sideways for months versus other major currencies.

 
Interbank Foreign Exchange Rates At 00:50 EST / 0450 GMT 
 
 
                         Latest       Previous   %Chg    Daily    Daily   %Chg 
Dollar Rates                             Close            High      Low  12/31 
 
USD/JPY Japan           111.30-31      111.03-04  +0.24   111.42   110.99  -4.87 
EUR/USD Euro            1.0751-54      1.0765-68  -0.13   1.0772   1.0743  +2.21 
GBP/USD U.K.            1.2439-41      1.2434-36  +0.04   1.2451   1.2431  +0.77 
USD/CHF Switzerland     0.9973-77      0.9962-66  +0.11   0.9982   0.9956  -2.10 
USD/CAD Canada          1.3333-38      1.3323-28  +0.08   1.3347   1.3327  -0.79 
AUD/USD Australia       0.7663-67      0.7669-73  -0.08   0.7676   0.7655  +6.43 
NZD/USD New Zealand     0.7024-30      0.7030-36  -0.09   0.7045   0.7018  +1.47 
 
Euro Rates 
 
EUR/JPY Japan           119.67-71      119.51-55  +0.13   119.85   119.49  -2.77 
 
 
Source: Tullett Prebon 
 

--Hiroyuki Kachi and Kenan Machado contributed to this article.

Write to Suryatapa Bhattacharya at suryatapa.bhattacharya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2017 02:18 ET (06:18 GMT)