News: FOREX-Yen advances for 2nd day ahead of BOJ meeting next week; dollar firmer

	  Japanese politician says BOJ should resolve to normalize policy 

	  Poll shows BOJ holding rates steady at next week's meeting 

	  U.S. home sales drop in June 

	  Ether, bitcoin down after launch of ether ETF trading  

(Adds new comment, graphic, updates prices)

The yen rose for a second straight session against the dollar on Tuesday, boosted by comments from a senior Japanese politician about normalizing monetary policy, adding pressure on the Bank of Japan to continue hiking interest rates to boost the currency.

The U.S. dollar overall was higher as traders waited for inflation data later in the week, while the Australian and New Zealand dollars continued to struggle after China's surprise interest rate cuts. The Aussie dollar is viewed as a proxy for China risks.

The U.S. dollar JPY=EBS was last down 0.9% against the Japanese yen at 155.625. It earlier fell to a five-week low of 155.375 on Thursday.

Senior ruling party official Toshimitsu Motegi said overnight that the Bank of Japan should more clearly indicate its resolve to normalize monetary policy, including through steady interest rate hikes. The BOJ next sets rates on July 31.

Most economists polled by Reuters expect the BOJ to keep rates on hold at the meeting. It last raised rates in March to a range of 0%-0.1% from -0.1%.

"Obviously, the market is positioning itself for the BOJ decision and the Federal Reserve meeting is also coming up," said Eugene Epstein, head of structured products, North America at Moneycorp.

"But there was no specific news at the moment. If I could gather anything, I would say it's a continued squeeze. The hawks -- all the people who are looking to short the yen -- were circling so to speak."

The yen has found some support on the back of Tokyo's recent bouts of intervention to prop up the currency and as traders looked to the BOJ's decision.

In afternoon trading, the dollar index =USD , which tracks the U.S. currency against six peers, rose 0.1% to 104.45, after earlier climbing to a two-week high. It recovered from a four-month low of 103.64 last week.

The dollar reacted little to data showing U.S. existing home sales fell more than expected in June as the median house price set another record high.

Home sales dropped 5.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.89 million units, the lowest since December, data showed. Meanwhile, the median existing home price soared 4.1% from a year earlier to an all-time high of $426,900, the second straight month it touched a record peak.

In other currencies, the euro EUR=EBS was down 0.4% against the dollar at $1.0851, after falling to a two-week trough earlier in the session. Sterling was 0.2% lower against the dollar at $1.2903.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars struggled to regain their footing on Tuesday after China's move to cut several key interest rates.

China surprised markets on Monday by cutting major short and long-term interest rates in its first such broad move since last August, signalling intent to boost growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The Australian dollar AUD=D3 fell to a three-week low of US$0.6612, while the New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 hit its weakest since early May at US$0.5951.

"We have seen a sell-off in commodities overnight and the worry is whether or not China will be able to dig its way out of its slow growth period," said Thierry Albert Wizman, global FX and rate strategist at Macquarie in New York.

"Some people are seeing the interest rate cuts as a sign of desperation for policymakers, creating a bit of a haven trade for the U.S. dollar."

Trading was relatively subdued in a week with little in the way of economic data until the release of U.S. personal consumption expenditure (PCE) inflation figures for June on Friday.

In addition, the market's reaction to U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to bow out of the election race was muted, though there was some unwinding of the so-called Trump trade, which saw the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields ease a touch.

In cryptocurrencies, the first U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the price of ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, began trading on Tuesday.

Ether was last down 0.3% at $3,479 ETH= , while bitcoin also fell, down 3.2% at $65,985 BTC= . Currency bid prices at 23 July​ 07:21 p.m. GMT

 Descripti  RIC	Last	  U.S.	   Pct	 YTD Pct  High	 Low 
 on						  Close	  Change		   Bid	  Bid 
							 Previous							  
							 Session							   
 Dollar	 <=USD  104.44	104.3	  0.14%   3.03%	104.53   104. 
 index	  >													 2 
 Euro/Doll  												  844 
 Dollar/Ye  												   6 
 Euro/Yen   												  84 
 Dollar/Sw  												  89 
 Sterling/  												   844​ 
 Dollar/Ca  												   53 
 Aussie/Do  												   612 
 Euro/Swis  												  69 
 Euro/Ster  												  98 
 NZ		 												   51 

llar Dollar/No

 rway	   >													 429 
 Euro/Norw  												  195 
 Dollar/Sw  
 eden	   >													 066 
 Euro/Swed  
 en		 EK=>												  538 
	<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
World FX rates	https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E 
Existing home sales	https://reut.rs/3LAQYa4 
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>