A display shows the yen reaching ¥158.57 against the dollar on Friday at Ueda Totan Forex Ltd. in Chuo Ward, Tokyo.
16:14 JST, July 13, 2024
NEW YORK — The yen rose briefly to ¥157.30 against the dollar in New York on Friday, fueling speculation of a second straight day of currency intervention by the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan.
The yen was hovering around the upper ¥158 mark against the dollar on Friday morning as trading got underway in New York.
Shortly after 9 a.m. (10 p.m. Friday Japan time), the yen rose to ¥157.30 in just 10 minutes.
In the afternoon, the price weakened again to above ¥157.
The US consumer price inflation figure, released a day earlier, fell short of market expectations, fueling speculation that the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates as early as September.
Speculation about rate cuts has made the dollar less attractive as an investment vehicle, often leading to the currency being sold.
In response to the fluctuations in the currency market, Masato Kanda, deputy finance minister for international affairs, said Saturday morning that he could not say whether Japan had intervened or not.
“We cannot talk about the situations without mentioning that there were one-sided and speculative fluctuations,” Kanda said.
