“Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said that the government won’t intervene in the currency market for now after the yen strengthened by the most in three years against the dollar.
“We are carefully watching, but we don’t have any immediate intention of taking any action, such as intervention,” the finance minister told reporters in Tokyo today. The yen jumped 0.7 percent to 96.28 per dollar as of 1:47 p.m. local time.
Japan’s currency surged 2.2 percent yesterday, adding to the headwinds of a slide in stocks and volatility in bonds as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe campaigns to revive the world’s third-biggest economy. As attention turns to a Bank of Japan meeting on June 10-11, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s actions may be limited by his pledge to avoid “incremental” steps after announcing a plan to double the monetary base over two years.
“Stocks rose and the yen weakened between November and May at a very rapid pace, driven by expectations for Abenomics and Kuroda-nomics, exceeding the pace of the economy’s fundamental improvement,” said Hiroaki Muto, a senior economist in Tokyo at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management. “The markets are now going through an adjustment phase from the too-rapid moves.”
Muto said that the “adjustment” is probably temporary because the Japanese economy is making gains. At the same time, he said the government may consider another jolt of fiscal stimulus.
