The Australian dollar reached a five-week peak against the yen on Wednesday, while holding not far from two-year highs on the greenback, as Japan stepped in to sell yen.

At the local close, the domestic unit has traded at $US0.9373.

The Aussie had already jumped as far as $US0.9457 offshore Tuesday, taking it back to heights held in July 2008 before the global financial crisis.

Then the Bank of Japan intervened to sell the yen in an effort to restrain its export-sapping strength, and helped lift the dollar 2 per cent to 79.62 yen.

The surprise intervention was aimed at dragging the ailing US dollar up from a 15-year low of 82.87 yen and proved enough to lift it to 84.85 late in the session.

As a result, the local dollar pulled back slightly on the greenback, but was still ahead by 5 per cent for the month so far.

The next targets are highs from July 2008 at $US0.9464, $US0.9477 and $US0.9529 and dealers are starting to talk of parity, though they have been disappointed repeatedly in the past.

The US dollar had been hit by talk the Federal Reserve was moving closer to more quantitative easing.

"I still think the US dollar weakness is going to continue. The kiwi, Aussie and euro remain a buy on dips at this stage," according to Daniel Brdanovic, HSBC senior manager treasury.

He said, "The market is now looking to a speech by RBA assistant governor Philip Lowe on Thursday titled "The Development of Asia: Risk and Returns for Australia"

Source: Reuters