Overview
- Government sources said authorities stepped into the foreign‑exchange market to arrest the yen’s drop in the upper 160s against the dollar, marking the first intervention in one year and 10 months.
- The yen touched 160.72 per dollar, the weakest since July 2024, then rebounded by nearly five yen into the mid‑155s within hours.
- Japan’s top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, declined to comment on any operation, saying he had no intention to discuss such matters.
- Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and the vice finance minister had warned of “decisive action,” with officials calling out speculative moves as the currency slid.
- Traders leaned into the dollar as a perceived safe haven during the Middle East crisis, and the interest‑rate gap stayed wide after the Fed and the Bank of Japan left policy unchanged, echoing a backdrop that also preceded Japan’s ¥5.53 trillion intervention near ¥162 in July 2024.