Japan’s Katayama: Warns of decisive action on speculation

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama warned that officials are in close contact around the clock with their US counterparts over speculative moves that are keeping the Japanese Yen (JPY) weak. Katayama confirmed that there are no plans to alter Japan's currency swap lines with the US.

Katayama also flagged a visible increase in speculative activity linked to oil prices and vowed decisive action on speculation, citing an existing agreement with the US as the basis. Katayama stressed continued close coordination with the US and global financial authorities across multiple forums.

Market Reaction:

Katayama's comments represent a classic verbal intervention but do little to provide any respite to the JPY, with the USD/JPY pair holding steady just below the 160.00 psychological mark, up for the fifth consecutive day.

Japanese Yen Price This week

The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies this week. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the Swiss Franc.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		0.49%	0.15%	0.61%	0.08%	-0.08%	0.09%	0.65%
EUR	-0.49%		-0.33%	0.00%	-0.37%	-0.54%	-0.44%	0.17%
GBP	-0.15%	0.33%		2.17%	-0.04%	-0.21%	-0.11%	0.50%
JPY	-0.61%	0.00%	-2.17%		-0.53%	-0.63%	-0.55%	0.05%
CAD	-0.08%	0.37%	0.04%	0.53%		-0.07%	-0.04%	0.55%
AUD	0.08%	0.54%	0.21%	0.63%	0.07%		0.17%	0.71%
NZD	-0.09%	0.44%	0.11%	0.55%	0.04%	-0.17%		0.58%
CHF	-0.65%	-0.17%	-0.50%	-0.05%	-0.55%	-0.71%	-0.58%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

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