Japan confirms FX interventions twice in Oct to support yen

TOKYO – Japan confirmed on Tuesday that it did intervene in the foreign exchange market twice in October to support its yen currency, Ministry of Finance (MOF) data showed on Tuesday.

The quarterly data showed a steep drop in the yen to a 32-year low of 151.94 to the dollar on Oct. 21 triggered the intervention that day, followed by another on Oct. 24.

The stealth interventions, or making a foray in the market without announcing it, came after Tokyo intervened to buy the yen for dollars for the first time in 24 years on Sept. 22.

Japan spent a record 6.35 trillion yen ($47.9 billion) on two unannounced interventions in October, having spent 2.84 trillion yen on Sept. 22 to stem the yen’s sharp fall, which boosted living costs for resource-deficiant Japan.

The dollar has pulled back to move in a range around 130 yen since then, while stoking some concerns about renewed yen rises, which could hamper Japanese exports of cars and electronics.

It was rare for Japan to conduct yen-buying, dollar-selling interventions given the country’s past battle with a strong yen making Japanese goods less competitive overseas.

Japan publishes monthly intervention records at the end of each month, and it issues daily results for the prior quarter.

($1 = 132.5500 yen)