NEW YORK: The yen slid to its lowest against the dollar since October 2008 as its decisive break through the 100-yen mark triggered a sell-off in US and German bonds, along with a sharp fall in crude oil.

Equities on Wall Street and in Europe were higher, but a measure of global equity markets was lower.

A firmer dollar pressured oil, whose fall was helped by rising supplies and doubts over the strength of China’s economy.

The yen fell on data showing Japanese investors were buying more foreign assets, while the greenback rallied broadly as US data sparked talk the Federal Reserve may scale back monetary easing.

With the Japanese currency breaching the 100 level, analysts expect the yen to fall further. Some see the dollar rising to 105 yen this summer and to 110 by the end of the year.

“The break of the 100-yen level unleashed the animal spirits,” said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.

Data earlier showed that Japanese investors turned net buyers of foreign bonds in the last two weeks. They bought 309.9 billion yen ($ 3.1 billion) in foreign bonds in the week through May 4 after purchasing 204.4 billion yen in the prior week, according to the Ministry of Finance.

German Bunds slid to their lowest in over a month as Bund futures, which hit a record high of 147.20 last week, fell more than a point on the day to a low of 144.56 and were on course for their biggest one-week fall since March 10.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down 25/32 in price to yield 1.8999 percent.

The slump in the Japanese currency was sparked by a drop in weekly US jobless claims data on Thursday, which added to evidence of a rapidly improving employment market first seen in last week’s nonfarm payrolls report.

The move was given a further push by the data on Japanese investors’ foreign bond purchases. The data confirmed widespread expectations that the Bank of Japan’s aggressive stimulus plans would result in a massive flight of money out of the country in a search for higher-yielding investments.

“We’ve had back-to-back good news in US figures and you have to wind the clock back six to eight weeks to find the last time we had that,” said Nick Parsons, head of market strategy at National Australia Bank.

“Once we got through 100 (yen) and the Japanese bond buying data came out, that added fuel to the fire,” he said.

The yen’s move came as finance ministers and central bankers of the G7 countries gathered for a two-day meeting near London, to discuss ways to stimulate growth, with currency movements likely to be one of the main topics on the agenda.

Wall Street resumed a recent rally after a hiatus on Thursday, putting it on track for a third straight week of gains. A pair of strong corporate earnings helped the Nasdaq register a small advance.

Nvidia Corp. and Priceline.com Inc. led the Nasdaq’s rise a day after their results. Both companies beat profit expectations, even as Priceline gave a second-quarter outlook that disappointed.

“We’re getting more constructive on the second half of the year as both the market and the economy are picking up,” said Terry DuFrene, investment specialist for JP Morgan Private Bank in New Orleans.

“While it has caught us by surprise how much markets have come up, and we might see a decline of 5 percent, we don’t see any meaningful pullback ahead,” DuFrene said.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 3.99 points, or 0.03 percent, at 15,086.61. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 1.82 points, or 0.11 percent, at 1,628.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 12.41 points, or 0.36 percent, at 3,421.58.

MSCI’s world equity index, which tracks stocks in 45 countries, was down 0.41 percent but is on course to end its third week of gains at a five-year high.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 0.3 percent at 1,232.84.