opyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) NEW YORK -- The dollar jumped more than one yen after the Bank of Japan intervened to weaken the Japanese currency early in the Asian trading day. Traders estimated Japan's central bank bought between $1 billion and $3 billion in two interventions overnight. The actions pushed the dollar as high as 107.50 yen early in the trading day. Japanese corporate repatriation ahead of the fiscal year end may partly explain the yen's current popularity, but it isn't likely the driving force. Dealers said the currency also has attracted sustained interest from speculators, portfolio managers as well as corporate buyers. With the Nikkei 225-stock index trading at around 20000, and Japanese officials predicting economic expansion, Asia is looking increasingly attractive to foreign investors, they said. The Bank of Japan intervention was seen more as a buying opportunity than the start of a weakening trend for the yen, with the market dumping euros in droves to buy yen after the bank's action. The euro plunged to a record just below 101 yen before it rebounded in New York. "Euro/yen is the playground of speculators and does not represent economic fundamentals," said Jeremy Fand, chief foreign-exchange strategist at Fleet Global Markets in Boston. Nonetheless, the euro/yen sell-off shows few signs of slowing. John Cholakis, a dealer at Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank in New York, said the euro could drop to 100 yen by week's end, as the European currency comes under continued pressure from the dollar and pound in addition to the yen. Late in New York, the dollar was trading at 107.20 yen, up from 106.17 yen late Tuesday. The euro was at 96.08 cents, up from 95.95 cents late Tuesday. Rumors of European Central Bank intervention around the 95-cent level may have sparked some interest in the European currency, but the market still seems divided on the currency's direction. "This is a pivotal p...
