dChan
Anonymous ID: 48f028 July 11, 2024, 7:27 p.m. No.21182905   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>2917 >>3094 >>3135 >>3160 >>3167

Japan Currency Chief Keeps Traders in Dark Over Yen Intervention

 

(They have a cash facility set up at NYFed as they did this the same way as in late April/early May do not having to sell US Treasuries like they did in October of last year…after the intervention in late April the Treasury declined to put them on the currency manipulation list just “watching”….well this is another blatant manipulation so what day you nao?…Kek…. They’ll still be on watch as Janet can’t piss off the largest holder of our debt heading not the selection season…they did some small ones last week just to keep the pressure off but nothing like this today but it won’t last as it’s back up over 159/$)

 

Japan’s currency chief continued to keep market players guessing over whether Tokyo stepped into the foreign exchange market to prop up the yen, playing down the validity of a local media report that said a government official confirmed intervention. “We haven’t given any answer at all regarding if intervention happened,” Masato Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, said Friday morning, following the report. “The number of people involved is highly limited, I’d say only a handful, given the standpoint that absolutely no insider trading can be conducted.” Late Thursday evening, Japan’s currency firmed sharply from around 161.58 against the dollar to 157.44 in little more than half an hour after softer-than-expected US inflation data, generating speculation that Tokyo had taken advantage of an initial movement after the data to then step into the market. The yen was at 158.65 per dollar around 9:15 a.m. in Tokyo on Friday.

The Mainichi newspaper reported that intervention took place, citing an unidentified government official. While some market watchers had been alert to the possibility of intervention if US prices proved hotter than expected prompting a yen slump, the likelihood of Japan stepping in if the yen started strengthening after weak data had not been on the radar. The finance ministry is to report its monthly intervention data on July 31, when Kanda is scheduled to step down, replaced by Atsushi Mimura who is currently director general of the finance ministry’s international bureau.

On the same day, the Bank of Japan is set to wrap up its latest monetary policy decision. Some economists expect the central bank to raise interest rates while announcing details for its plan to cut sovereign debt purchases. Kanda has tried to maximize the impact of its currency policy by leaving doubt in the market over its actions to create a degree of unpredictability that keeps speculators on edge.Japan spent a record ¥9.8 trillion ($62 billion) around the end of April and the beginning of May to support the yen after it fell to a 34-year low against the dollar, surpassing the total amount it used in 2022 to defend the currency. Kanda timed the entry into the market to ensure that disclosure of the intervention didn’t take place for about a month.

 

After a rapid strengthening of the yen in October 2023, Kanda also refused to confirm at the time whether Japan had intervened. The sharp jolt in the market turned out to be the result of jittery markets and algorithmic trades combining to give the impression of intervention, an outcome that still served to raise the guard of speculators. Kanda has also been wary of commenting too often on the currency to avoid giving hints to market players over when Tokyo will act.

Still, the latest move, if it proves to be intervention, would mark a new development of latching on to a strengthening move and then trying to extend it. While that might make it cheaper for Tokyo to move the currency pair by the usual margin of around 4 yen, it would also risk generating criticism from other major nations, including the US.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-11/japan-s-kanda-keeps-market-players-in-dark-over-yen-intervention

https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/currency