Japan’s finance minister has said the government’s intervention in the currency market a little over a month ago was effective to some extent, in the first official acknowledgment of the action after the ministry disclosed data indicating it spent a record amount to prop up the yen.
“We intervened in the market to counter excessive FX moves, which were driven by speculation,” Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters Tuesday. “From that standpoint, we believe that it had a certain effect.”
Suzuki’s remarks were the first from authorities confirming that the government took action, although market participants were generally aware that the ministry entered the market on two occasions starting in late April, based on trading patterns and data from the Bank of Japan.
