Japan's Yen intervention hits record $50 billion in single day in July

Japan conducted a record single-day intervention in foreign exchange markets in July, selling $50 billion worth of dollars to support the yen as the currency weakened to its lowest level in four decades, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Monday, according to a report by Reuters.

The Japanese authorities intervened in the currency market on three days between July 30 and August 3, with the largest operation amounting to 7.98 trillion yen ($50.36 billion) on July 30, MOF data showed. The amount surpassed the previous single-day record of 6.28 trillion yen spent on April 30, according to data dating back to 1991.

Japan spent another 5.55 trillion yen on July 31, when the United States also intervened by selling euros against the yen, followed by 1.87 trillion yen on August 3.


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The latest figures provide a detailed daily breakdown of Japan's previously disclosed record monthly intervention of 15.4 trillion yen ($97.19 billion) between July 30 and August 26.

The scale of the intervention highlighted the Japanese government's urgency in arresting the yen's decline, Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute, said, according to Reuters. He added that unresolved geopolitical tensions surrounding Iran, a key factor behind the yen's weakness, could keep the currency under downward pressure.

Japan re-entered the foreign exchange market on July 30 to purchase yen, including a rare coordinated intervention with the United States on July 31. The move came as the Japanese currency weakened to nearly 164 per dollar, its lowest level in 40 years.

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South Korea also coordinated its own won-buying intervention with Japan around the same time to strengthen the impact of the currency-support measures, South Korean officials said at the time.

(Disclaimer: This article is based on inputs from agencies. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)