Japan Intervenes Again to Weaken Yen

Traders said the Bank of Japan intervened in the currency market to weaken the yen Friday for the second time in just over a week.

In early afternoon trading Friday in Tokyo, the dollar jumped suddenly from mid-84 yen to as high as 85.38 yen.

“It appears that authorities have intervened,” said Yu Yokoi, a foreign exchange dealer at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Tokyo.

The move signals that Japanese authorities are intent on keeping the yen from appreciating too much. A strong yen hurts the country’s vital exporters by eroding their foreign income when repatriated.

Officials at the Bank of Japan and Ministry of Finance declined to comment, but Yuji Kawashima, chief forex strategist at Daiwa Institute of Research, said there was an “obvious movement” in exchange rates that signaled that authorities had bought dollars to weaken the yen.

On Sept. 15, Japan intervened in the market to buy dollars and sell yen for the first time in more than six years after the dollar had fallen to a 15-year low of 82.87 yen.

TOKYO (AP)