Japan's finance minister publicly warned market participants on Monday that authorities will act against speculative moves in foreign exchange trading, after the yen briefly strengthened and sparked renewed speculation over potential intervention by Tokyo.
Speaking with reporters following the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in Uzbekistan, Minister Satsuki Katayama said Japan would take decisive measures against speculative activity, referring to a joint statement signed with the United States last year as the basis for action. She declined to offer additional specifics.
The comment came after a relatively modest intraday move in the currency. On Monday the yen moved from about 157.2 per dollar to just under 156 at its peak, before reversing and settling near 157. By comparison, Japan intervened in the market last week to bolster the yen, with money market sources estimating roughly $35 billion of intervention that supported a sudden roughly 3% rally on Thursday.
Tokyo and Washington issued a joint statement in September that set out the conditions for foreign exchange intervention, saying such measures should be reserved for addressing excess volatility. Japanese officials have cited that statement as providing authorization to step in when the yen's moves are judged to be disconnected from economic fundamentals and amount to excessively large swings.
Katayama's remarks reiterate Tokyo's willingness to use policy tools in response to abrupt currency moves, while offering limited detail on when or how additional action might be taken. The minister's reference to the bilateral statement with the United States underscores the role that the agreement plays in Japan's approach to managing large or disorderly fluctuations in the yen.
Markets will likely continue to watch yen moves and official comments closely, given the size of recent interventions and the potential for future policy responses if volatility resumes. For now, the more pronounced action remains last week's intervention, with Monday's move described by officials as smaller in scale.
- Context: Remarks followed the Asian Development Bank meeting in Uzbekistan.
- Recent intervention: Money market data pointed to about $35 billion of intervention supporting a near 3% yen rally last week.
- Monday move: Yen briefly rose from around 157.2 to just under 156 before retreating to about 157.