SINGAPORE – The yen suddenly jumped against the US dollar in Asia trade on May 4, with traders on alert for another bout of intervention after Tokyo likely stepped into the market to shore up the Japanese currency last week.
The yen was up 0.5 per cent against the US currency at 156.22 yen per dollar, having surged nearly 0.9 per cent to a high of 155.69 at one point in choppy trade. Trading was thinned with markets in Japan closed for a holiday.
Investors were wary of further intervention from the Japanese authorities, after central bank data on May 1 showed Tokyo may have spent as much as 5.48 trillion yen (S$44.5 billion) bolstering its embattled currency last week.
“It could be them again,” chief market strategist Nick Twidale from ATFX Global in Sydney, said of the May 4 move.
“Certainly not to the same extent as last week, but reinforcing their stance that they won’t accept a weak yen.”
Japan intervened to prop up the yen against the US dollar on April 30, its first official currency action in nearly two years, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. REUTERS
