By Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO, May 7 (Reuters) – Japan faces no constraints on how often it can intervene in currency markets and is in daily contact with U.S. authorities, its top currency diplomat said on Thursday, reinforcing Tokyo’s readiness to step into the market to prop up the yen.
The remarks by Atsushi Mimura, the vice finance minister for international affairs, came ahead of a visit to Tokyo next week by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is expected to discuss yen moves with his Japanese counterpart, Satsuki Katayama.
Mimura declined to comment on Bessent’s visit but said he remained in daily contact with U.S. authorities, adding that his counterparts “fully understand our thinking and our actions.”
“Our focus, consistently and without change, is directed in all directions,” he told reporters, stressing that Tokyo continues to see speculative moves in the currency market.
During a three-day visit to Japan starting Monday, Bessent will meet Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as well as Katayama and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, a source familiar with the matter said, confirming a report by Nikkei newspaper.
Markets are watching closely for any comments Bessent might make on the yen and the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy, given his past remarks favouring speedier rate hikes.
Sources told Reuters that authorities intervened on Thursday last week, with money market data suggesting they sold about $35 billion to support the yen. Since then, the market has seen three abrupt spikes in the yen through to Wednesday, when it jumped as high as 155.00.
In late morning trade on Thursday, it had pared some of those gains to fetch 156.20 per dollar.
Mimura declined to say whether authorities intervened during Japan’s Golden Week holidays, which ran through Wednesday, saying only that he remained closely focused on movements in the currency market.
He also said the International Monetary Fund’s classification of Japan as having a free-floating exchange rate regime does not restrict how often authorities can intervene, responding to questions over IMF guidelines that flag more than three interventions in six months.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki, additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama, writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Shri Navaratnam)
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