Japan’s yen surged by as much as 3% on Thursday, the most in a day in over three years, driven by what one report attributed to the first official intervention in the markets since 2024 to lift the currency.
The Nikkei, citing a government source, said officials had intervened buying the currency, which had been around its weakest since July 2024 earlier on Thursday.
The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan carried out a currency intervention on April 30 by buying yen and selling dollars, the Nikkei reported.
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said earlier on Thursday that the timing to take “decisive action” in the market was nearing, in her strongest signal yet of potential currency intervention to prop up the sagging yen.
The dollar was last trading at 156.665 yen down 2.3% by 1334 GMT, after the Japanese currency strengthened sharply. The U.S. currency was on track for its biggest one-day drop since December 2022.
Top currency diplomat Atsushi Mimura also said the timing to take decisive action was approaching, adding that “extremely speculative” moves in the currency market were increasing. The Ministry of Finance has threatened intervention in currency and oil markets and on Thursday, reiterated that action could be “on all fronts”.
“This is our final evacuation warning to markets,” Mimura told reporters. When asked whether he was alluding to the chance of an imminent yen intervention, Mimura said: “I think market players would know what I mean.”
The Japanese finance ministry’s foreign exchange division could not be reached for immediate comment.
