Tokyo, 18 October, /AJMEDIA/
Japan stands ready to take “appropriate” steps against volatility in the foreign exchange market, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Tuesday after the yen hit a fresh 32-year low in the 149 zone versus the U.S. dollar.
Speaking to reporters, Suzuki said Japan is monitoring developments in the currency market with a sense of heightened urgency.
Japan intervened in the currency market in September to stem the yen’s rapid fall and the market has been on alert for possible further action.
“There is no change in our stance that we will take an appropriate response,” Suzuki said, adding that excessive volatility caused by speculative moves is unacceptable.
Japan spent 2.84 trillion yen ($19 billion) buying the yen for dollars last month, likely in a single day on Sept. 22, in its first such intervention since 1998. The action took some selling pressure off the yen, but the widening monetary policy divergence between Japan and the United States has continued to weaken the Japanese currency.
Speculation has emerged that Japanese authorities may have been carrying out “stealth” intervention in recent days.
Suzuki, however, declined to confirm whether that had happened.
“Generally speaking, there is a time when we say in public intervention was conducted, while at another time we don’t,” he added.
