Japanese yen intervention signal

Japanese authorities signaled intervention after the Japanese yen weakened against the dollar by breaking the critical level. The intervention signal from Japanese authorities followed the dollar/yen exchange rate exceeding 150 for the first time since November. Japan’s top executive responsible for exchange rate policies, Deputy Minister of Finance Masato Kanda, made a statement saying, “Some of the recent rapid exchange rate movements were in line with the fundamentals, but some of the movements are definitely speculative. I don’t think speculative movement is something to be desired. The authorities are ready to do what is necessary 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.” The dollar/yen, which rose to 150.89 on Tuesday, started to rise after Bank of Japan Vice President Shinichi Uchida commented last week that it was difficult to raise the policy rate continuously and rapidly. The verbal interventions of senior authorities are not enough to pull the exchange rate below 150 for now. The dollar/yen was traded at 150.52, down 0.2 percent in the morning hours.