On Friday, the yen saw significant volatility. The previous trading day, due to an unexpected drop in U.S. June consumer prices, there was speculation that Tokyo intervened, causing the yen to rebound from a 38-year low. During the Asian trading session, the yen fluctuated between gains and losses, last reported at 158.90 yen to the dollar, having surged nearly 3% to 157.40 on Thursday following the CPI report.
According to Asahi Shimbun, government officials did intervene in the forex market, and Nikkei also cited sources saying the Bank of Japan conducted a rate check on the euro-yen pair on Friday. Tokyo's chief foreign exchange official, Masato Kanda, stated on Friday that the government would take action in the forex market as needed but declined to comment on whether there had been intervention.
Due to the usual lack of official comments on interventions, investors can only speculate. Attention will shift to data released at the end of the month to confirm whether the government did intervene. Charu Chanana, Head of Currency Strategy at Saxo, said, "The response to the yen's recent two suspected interventions has been very different." "Japanese authorities need to take more measures, such as stronger verbal intervention or, better yet, tightening policies at the Bank of Japan's July meeting."
Tokyo intervened at the end of April and early May, spending about 9.8 trillion yen to support the currency.
