Japan’s Major Forex Market Moves: Intervention to Boost Yen

Japan may have intervened in the foreign exchange market, spending an additional 2.14 trillion yen to support the yen. This follows an estimated 3.37-3.57 trillion yen spent the previous day as the yen rallied from 38-year lows. Market data suggests official intervention was likely.

Japan may have spent an additional 2.14 trillion yen ($13.50 billion) on Friday in the foreign exchange market as it intervened to shore up the yen late last week, Bank of Japan data suggested on Tuesday. The central bank’s projection for Wednesday’s money market conditions indicated a 2.74 trillion yen net receipt of funds, compared with a 600 billion yen net receipt estimate from money market brokerages, that excludes intervention.

The data suggests the Ministry of Finance could have spent around 2.14 trillion yen intervening in the market on Friday. That's on top of the 3.37-3.57 trillion yen it is estimated to have spent on Thursday. The yen rallied strongly from 38-year lows in late Asian hours on Thursday and again on Friday, in spurts that bore the hallmarks of official intervention.

Currency trades take two business days to settle, and Japan's markets were closed for a public holiday on July 15.