By: Barbara Zigah
Hirohisa Fujii, the Finance Minister for Japan, recanted earlier statements about the Japanese government not intervening in a strong Japanese Yen. In comments made today, the Finance Minister said that the new administration would not hesitate to take action during “irregular” or extreme movements of the currency, but insisted that the current policy of permitting a weak currency to play itself out was correct.
Following those comments, the Yen slipped against the U.S. Dollar from 88.23 Yen, an 8-month high touched on earlier in the day on the EBS trading platform. Despite Fujii’s comments to the contrary, market players continue to be doubtful that the new administration will intervene in currency matters; the previous administration also was loath to interfere in the currency markets, and had not done so in the last 5 years. One chief economist at a Japanese securities firm in Tokyo believes that the government would only intervene if the Dollar/Yen fall was 2 to 3 Yen in a single day.
As reported at 2:38 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar traded at 89.97 Yen, a .4% increase from late trading in New York; earlier in the session, it had touched briefly on 90.23 Yen. Over the month of September, however, the U.S. Dollar has declined nearly 3% versus the Yen.
Fujii’s Comments continue to Cause Yen Swing
After working on Wall Street, Barb began her second career as a freelance writer at Daily Forex, where the CEO recognized fresh, untapped potential and was willing to give her a try. She’s never looked back. Since then, she’s worked steadily as a freelance writer and editor in the financial services and Forex-related industry.