The Japanese government is apparently set to release a joint statement with its US counterpart on Monday regarding what is believed to have been coordinated action to stem the yen’s slide to historic lows.
The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan appear to have intermittently intervened in the currency market over the past few days. The moves followed the yen’s depreciation late last month to nearly the 164-yen range against the dollar, its lowest level in around 39 years and eight months.
Following the yen-buying operations from Thursday night through Saturday morning, Japan time, the Japanese currency strengthened sharply to the lower half of the 157-yen range at one point, up more than five yen since before the intervention.
Sources close to the matter told media that US monetary authorities took an unusual move to step into the currency market to coincide with the Japanese action.
The sources revealed that the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York had conducted a sale of euros to buy yen on behalf of the US Treasury Department.
This would be the first coordinated intervention by Tokyo and Washington since 2011, when the yen surged following the Great East Japan Earthquake. It would be the first joint yen-buying action since 1998, when Japan faced a financial crisis.
The Japanese government has declined to reveal whether coordinated intervention was conducted. However, Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs Mimura Atsushi said on Friday that he is aware that Japan is receiving beyond mere moral support from US authorities.
His comments were interpreted as suggesting US cooperation in addressing the yen’s depreciation.
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