By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters) – The yen hovered near a five-month low against the dollar on Friday as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s hawkish message contrasted with the Bank of Japan’s cautious approach to further policy tightening.

The yen traded at 157.725 per dollar at 0030 GMT, up 0.1% from Thursday, but still near the session low of 158.09 per dollar, the yen’s weakest level since July 17.

A summary of opinions from the BOJ’s December policy meeting, released Friday, showed some officials becoming more confident about a near-term rate hike, while others remained cautious amid no certainty of wage trends and the policies of the incoming administration of Donald Trump.

Inflation data for Tokyo in December, also released on Friday, supported further rate hikes.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said last week, after the central bank kept rates steady, that it would take “a lot of time” to fully gauge the outlook for wages and economies abroad, especially the United States.

In contrast, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said earlier this month that US central bank officials would be “cautious about further cuts” after an expected quarter-point rate cut.

Trump’s push for looser regulation, tax cuts, tariff hikes and tighter immigration is seen by economists as both pro-growth and inflationary.

The dollar is on track for a 5.4% gain this month against the yen, and an 11.9% advance for the year.

“The uptrend is strong, but there is a sense that the strong dollar-weak yen move we are seeing today is overdone and there is a risk of pullbacks,” Mizuho (NYSE:) securities analysts Masafumi Yamamoto and Masayoshi Mihara wrote in a client note.

“There is also the possibility of stronger warnings of intervention from Japanese officials.”

On December 20, Japan’s finance minister and FX’s top diplomat said in separate media briefings that officials were alarmed by “excessive” currency movements and were preparing to take “appropriate action”.

which measures the currency against the yen, euro, Sterling and three other major rivals, is steady at 108.09 and is essentially in a holding pattern around that level all week. For the month, it increased by 2.2%.

Many business people take Christmas and New Years off.

The euro was flat at $1.0421, down 1.5% year to date in December. Sterling was little changed at $1.25275 on the day, and fell 1.7% for the month.

Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin was steady at $95,660, down 1.2% this month, but after touching a record high of 108,379.28 on December 17. It has surged about 125% so far this year.