But despite several BOJ attempt to lift the dollar every time it approached 103 yen, the US currency was pushed back to session lows as comments by European central bankers led the market to think that the BOJ would be left alone in its decision to use market intervention to smooth disruptive currency moves. "Dollar/yen has come off despite one or two threats coming out of Japan," said a London-based US bank dealer.

"But until we see the colour of their money in Europe, the market will still try to head where it wants to head." The dollar was within a yen of four-year lows around 101.25 set on Friday having backed offan Asian high above 104. Euro/yen was less than a yen above its life low of 102.41 set on Friday according to Reuters Graphics.

Meanwhile the euro was within half a cent of its $1.0073 life low set on Friday and still within reach of parity against the dollar. The euro had started to falter early in Europe after Bundesbank council member Klaus-Dieter Kuehbacher said it could test parity with the dollar on Monday and eased further after ECB's council member Klaus Liebscher was quoted as saying he was "not a great supporter" of intervention.