Japan’s finance minister has said the government’s intervention in the foreign exchange market just over a month ago was effective to some extent, in the first official recognition of the move after the ministry released data showing it had invested a record amount issued to support the yen.
“We intervened in the market to counter excessive exchange rate movements driven by speculation,” Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters on Tuesday. “From that standpoint, we believe it has had some effect.”
Suzuki’s comments were the first from authorities to confirm that the government was taking action, although market participants were widely aware that the ministry entered the market twice from late April, based on trading patterns and data from the Bank of Japan.
