- Tokyo won’t rule out any options vs excessive moves – Suzuki
- Govt watching market moves very carefully – Suzuki
- Finance minister: No comment on whether Tokyo intervened
Finance
Japan will take appropriate steps vs excessive yen moves – finance min
TOKYO, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Japan will take appropriate steps against excessive moves in the yen “without ruling out any options”, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Wednesday, keeping markets on alert over the chance of yen-buying intervention.
Suzuki told reporters he would not comment on whether Tokyo intervened in the exchange rate market overnight to prop up the yen.
“Currency rates ought to move stably driven by markets, reflecting fundamentals. Sharp moves are undesirable,” Suzuki told reporters.
“The government is watching market developments very carefully. We’re ready to take necessary action against excess volatility, without ruling out any options,” he added.
Japan’s top currency diplomat Masato Kanda told reporters earlier on Wednesday that authorities were looking at various factors, including implied volatility, in determining whether yen moves were excessive.
“If currencies move too much on a single day or, say, a week, that’s judged as excess volatility,” Kanda said.
“Even if that’s not the case, if we see one-sided moves accumulate into very big moves in a certain period of time, that’s also excess volatility,” he said. He declined to comment on whether the overnight yen moves were excessive.
After sliding below the psychologically important 150 per dollar mark, the yen strengthened sharply overnight on Tuesday, leading some market participants to believe Tokyo had intervened to support the currency. The dollar stood at 149.200 yen in Asia on Wednesday.
Japanese authorities are facing renewed pressure to combat a sustained depreciation of the yen, as investors confront the prospect of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates while the Bank of Japan remains wedded to its super-low interest rate policy.
Tokyo last intervened to buy yen in September and October last year, when the Japanese currency eventually slumped to a 32-year low of 151.94 per dollar.
“We’ve only taken action that gained understanding, and we think this will remain the case,” Kanda said, when asked whether Tokyo can garner support from the United States and other Group of Seven partners on intervention.
Kanda met Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the premier’s official residence on Wednesday, and told reporters after the meeting that the two “discussed the economy in general”.
Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara; Additional reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edmund Klamann
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Finance
Finance Minister Smotrich urges PM Benjamin Netanyahu to kick Turkey out of hostage deal talks
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have Turkey removed from the ceasefire talks, in a letter published on Friday.
In the letter, Smotrich stated that he was surprised to have learned that representatives of Israel’s “antisemitic enemy Erdogan” are part of the peace talks, and that “Erdogan should be canceled, and any discussion or ties should be boycotted.”
To back his argument, Smotrich noted that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has helped the spread of antisemitism and the hatred of Israel. Turkey joined the legal case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in Hague, and has cut financial ties with Israel. He also noted that the participation of the Turky’s representatives was held in secret from the cabinet.
Peace endangers Israel’s national security
Smotrich further stated the peace talks in Cairo were a “national humiliation,” which harms Israel’s national security and “endangers our existence.” The finance minister claimed that Erdogan had “chosen the terror side of radical Islam” and together with Iran and its proxies, they threaten the peace worldwide.
He then claimed that Turkey’s participation in the peace talks provided Erdogan a form of redemption and international legitimacy, which are a “hard hit” to Israel’s national security.
“For a long time now we have been on a downward slope toward doom,” said the minister in the letter, saying that from feelings of victory, Israel is descending into defeat and surrender under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership.
Smotrich ended his letter begging Netanyahu to “stop! Just stop. Before it is too late.” He then asked him to “return Israel to the natural path of unrelenting war against its enemies, of bravery, of national pride and dignity.”
Finance
Japan finance chief sees need for stable forex moves amid weak yen
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Friday stressed the need for foreign exchange rates to move stably by reflecting economic fundamentals, saying that excessive fluctuations should be rectified.
Speaking at a press conference during his visit to Georgia, Suzuki declined to comment on whether Japan intervened in the currency market when the yen spiked in a short span of time Wednesday in New York.
Japanese authorities have threatened to take action against excessive volatility in the currency market, with the yen falling sharply against the U.S. dollar.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (C) and Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino (R) give a press conference in Tbilisi on May 3, 2024. (Kyodo)
“Foreign exchange rates should be determined by market forces, reflecting fundamentals. It’s desirable that they move stably,” Suzuki told a press conference in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on the fringes of meetings related to the Asian Development Bank.
Suzuki added that rapid changes cause negative impacts for households and businesses in making plans. “It may become necessary to smooth out excessive moves,” he said.
Despite market talk of currency interventions by Japanese authorities, Japanese government officials have remained silent, leaving traders in the dark.
“Stealth interventions” are used to make traders jittery and prevent them from making bold moves.
Based on data from the Bank of Japan and market sources, Japan likely spent around 8 trillion yen ($52 billion) this week to step into the market and slow the yen’s decline.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (5th from L) and Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino (4th from L) are among the officials attending a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from Japan, China, South Korea and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Tbilisi on May 3, 2024. (Kyodo)
The yen, which earlier this week tumbled past 160 to the dollar, has regained some of its strength. It rose to the 151 zone on Friday.
Still, the underlying trend of a weak yen remains intact, reflecting the wide interest rate differential between Japan and the United States.
The BOJ raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years in March, but rapid hikes are not considered likely. The U.S. Federal Reserve, for its part, is now expected to take a longer time before starting to cut interest rates.
Related coverage:
Yen briefly rises to 151 in N.Y. after weak U.S. labor data
Another suspected market intervention likely cost Japan 3 trillion yen
BOJ’s March minutes show no urgency to raise rates further
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