Here's a big factor; coordinated interest rate cuts have reduced the profitability of the Yen (and Dollar) carry trades, where investors borrow @ the low rate in Japan and invest the funds in other countries with higher yields. The across the board reductions in interest rates are having a strong effect world wide on commodities:

Interest-Rate Cuts

The currency may also drop as the Australian central bank cuts interest rate to revive growth, reducing the yields for holding the nation's assets, Shah said.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut its benchmark lending rate by 0.5 percentage point to 5.5 percent on Nov. 4, according to a Bloomberg survey of 16 economists. The rate stood at a 12-year high of 7.25 percent in August. The country's interest rates made Australia a favorite for investors seeking higher returns using funds from a country with low borrowing costs.

The risk is exchange-rate fluctuations can erode profits.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1ZBc6K1VKxI

Here's another take from the Japanese viewpoint:

``We can't rule out the possibility that our accommodative policy has had some influence on overseas financial markets,'' Yamaguchi, who is currently an executive director at the central bank, said at a parliament hearing today in Tokyo. ``Some people say one side effect of our policy is the yen carry trade,'' in which investors borrow cheaply in Japan and put money into higher-yielding securities abroad, he said.

The central bank kept interest rates near zero percent for five years through July 2006 to spur economic growth and counter deflation. The monetary authority has since raised the benchmark overnight lending rate to 0.5 percent, still the lowest among the industrialized world.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aXoln3JUe0Bg

Carry trades tend to cancel the benefits of accomodative policies as they encourage investment outside the countries that initiate the policies in the first place.

DUH!!!