Reuters-By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara
Banknotes of Japanese yen are seen in this illustration picture taken September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
TOKYO, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday authorities would respond appropriately to excessive currency moves driven by speculators, as the yen fell to a fresh 32-year low to the dollar.
Suzuki, speaking to reporters, declined to comment when asked whether authorities are conducting stealth intervention to support the weakening currency.
“We cannot tolerate excessive currency moves driven by speculators,” Suzuki said. “We are closely watching currency moves with a sense of urgency.”
Suzuki later told parliament the government is ready to take appropriate action “decisively” against speculative-driven, excessive moves in the yen. When asked by an opposition lawmaker what he meant by decisive action, Suzuki said: “We intervened in the currency market (last month).”
At the same parliament session, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also said speculative-driven rapid currency moves were problematic.
Kishida brushed aside the dominant market view the Bank of Japan’s ultra-easy monetary policy was largely behind the yen’s sharp declines, saying that currency rates move on various factors, not just U.S.-Japan interest rate differentials.
“The Bank of Japan decides monetary policy based not just on currency moves but comprehensive factors, such as economic and price developments as well as the impact on small and midsize firms,” Kishida said.
Japan spent 2.8 trillion yen ($18.81 billion) in dollar-selling, yen-buying last month when authorities intervened to prop up the yen for the first time since 1998.
Speculation remains that authorities may have intervened in the market since then without announcing, although Suzuki declined to comment on that.
“Generally speaking, there are times when we intervene by making announcements and some other times when we do without it,” Suzuki said, declining to comment further.
($1 = 148.8400 yen)
Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Kim Coghill, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Sam Holmes
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