The U.S. dollarfell sharply against theJapanese yen on Thursday as foreign exchange traders interpreted comments byBank of Japan governorKazuo Uedato suggest the central bank will soon end its negative interest rate policy.

The U.S. currency fell 2.6% against the yen (USD/JPY) in early trading on Thursday. The yen also gained strongly versus other rivals, climbing 2.4% against the euro and 2.7% on the U.K. pound.

Exchange traded funds that track both long and short positions on the yen were also big movers.ProShares UltraShort Yen(NYSE:YCS) fell 3.7%, while theProShares Ultra Yen (NYSE...