Japan keeps up warnings against sharp yen falls

JAPANESE authorities stand ready to take all possible measures in the currency market as excessively volatile moves are undesirable, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday (Jul 16).

“It is important for currency rates to move stably reflecting fundamentals. Excessive volatility is undesirable,” Hayashi told a regular news conference.

“We will closely watch exchange-rate developments and stand ready to take all possible measures,” he said.

Hayashi declined to comment when asked whether Tokyo intervened in the currency market to prop up the yen for two straight days last week.

Traders suspect Tokyo intervened in the market to lift a currency that has languished at 38-year lows, once on Thursday after cooler-than-expected US inflation report triggered a jump in the yen, and again on Friday.

Bank of Japan data suggested Japan may have spent up to 3.6 trillion yen (S$30.5 billion) intervening on Thursday last week. Markets will be eyeing the release of money market data later on Tuesday, to gauge if Tokyo stepped in last Friday as well.

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The US dollar stood at 158.62 yen on Tuesday, not far off from the 160 mark seen as Japanese authorities’ line-in-the-sand for currency intervention.

Japanese authorities have recently made it standard practice to not confirm whether they have intervened in the currency market or not. REUTERS