Japan spends record $42bn in October to prop up yen

Bundles of Japanese yen banknotes on a tray at a branch of Resona Bank in Tokyo. Japan spent a record $42.4bn in October to counter the yen’s sharp slide against the dollar, as it tried to limit speculative moves adding to pressure on the currency.

Japan spent a record ¥6.3tn ($42.4bn) in October to counter the yen’s sharp slide against the dollar, as it tried to limit speculative moves adding to pressure on the currency. The finance ministry disclosed on Monday data for the period between September 29 to October 27. Central bank figures and market estimates of money flows with the government had suggested that a suspected intervention on October 21 cost around ¥5.5tn ($37.2bn). Other moments of high volatility including a sharp move on October 24 have kept traders guessing over how often authorities have been operating in the markets and how long they can continue to support the currency. “Japan should still have more than ¥10tn left in cash, so big interventions at the level we’ve seen in September and October could happen maybe another three to five times,” said economist Atsushi Takeda at Itochu Research Institute. He said the October figure came in largely in line with his ¥6tn estimate for interventions on October 21 and 24, plus additional smaller entries into the market. Tsuyoshi Ueno, a senior economist at NLI Research Institute in Tokyo, had expected a figure around ¥7.5tn. “It seems their stance isn’t to move too often but to choose the right moment that will have the most impact,” Ueno said, comparing the current strategy with repeated daily interventions in 2004 and 2011. The government has chosen to remain silent over direct market action in the past month or so, a strategic shift after it announced its first yen-buying intervention in 24 years on September 22. The ¥2.8tn move in September failed to reverse the yen’s falling trend, and the currency dropped to almost 152 against the dollar before its sharp surge on October 21. The yen was around 148.57 per dollar yesterday in Tokyo. Japan had about $1.24tn worth of foreign reserves as of the end of September, according to the finance ministry. Among its most liquid foreign reserve assets are deposits amounting to $135.5bn with foreign central banks and the Bank for International Settlements. Still, Masato Kanda, the finance ministry’s top currency official, has said resources for intervention are limitless.