On Friday, the yen hovered near a five-month low, as the Fed's hawkish message sharply contrasted with the Bank of Japan's cautious attitude towards further tightening of policies. As of 6:00 AM GMT (2:00 PM Beijing time), the yen was quoted at 157.765 against the dollar, a slight increase of 0.1% from Thursday, but still close to the day's low of 158.09, the lowest since July 17. Japan's finance minister warned again that the government is "shocked by the development of the Forex... and will take appropriate action against excessive fluctuations." The minutes of the Bank of Japan's December policy meeting released on Friday indicated that some officials are becoming increasingly confident about recent rate hikes, while others remain cautious amid uncertainty regarding wage trends and the incoming Trump administration's policies. The dollar is expected to rise 5.5% against the yen this month and 11.8% this year. Analysts Masafumi Yamamoto and Masayoshi Mihara from Mizuho Securities wrote, "The upward trend of the yen against the dollar is strong, but there is a feeling that the strong dollar against the weak yen trend we are currently seeing is somewhat excessive, with risks of a pullback... Japanese officials may also issue stronger intervention warnings."