The yen fell through 145 per dollar for the first time since November, nearing a level where Japan intervened last year to support the currency for the first time since 1998.
The Japanese currency dropped as much as 0.2% to 145.01 amid a reignited focus on the monetary policy divergence between the East Asian nation and its major peers. Its decline to an almost eight-month low has spurred reminders from government officials that they are watching moves and stand ready to act.
Last year, the currency’s slide toward 146 triggered intervention, and in the build up to that there were repeated official warnings.
The growing gap between Japan’s easy monetary policy and the hawkish bent of peers like the Federal Reserve continues to weigh on the yen, with some analysts pointing to the 145 level as important for officials. A lurch higher in global yields has favored other currencies with Japan still experiencing negative interest rates.
Still, policymakers and business leaders appear far more sanguine about the recent slide than they were about last year’s collapse — a sign they may see any weakness as temporary.
On Thursday Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki reiterated to reporters that he was watching FX markets with a sense of stronger urgency and wouldn’t exclude any options. That came a day after the nation’s top currency official Masato Kanda said the authorities will respond appropriately to excessive currency moves.
Japan spent $65 billion last year on direct purchases of the yen to help drag it off a three-decade low versus the greenback.
