The yen-dollar exchange rate exceeded the 146 yen level on the 12th for the first time in 24 years.
According to Kyoto News, the yen exchange rate against the dollar surpassed 146 yen per dollar in the Tokyo foreign exchange market this morning, the first time since August 1998.
The yen-dollar exchange rate briefly fell to the 145 yen level after exceeding 146 yen at 9 a.m., but has since risen again and fluctuated in the early 146 yen range.
As the U.S. is expected to continue to raise its key interest rate, dollar buying movements due to differences in interest rates between the two countries are analyzed as a major factor in the rise in the yen-dollar exchange rate.
Unlike the U.S., the Japanese government maintains large-scale financial easing by freezing short-term interest rates at -0.1% and purchasing long-term government bonds without an upper limit to induce the 10-year government bond rate, which is a long-term interest rate indicator, to around 0%.
Attention is also being paid to whether the Japanese authorities will further intervene in the foreign exchange market as the value of the yen plunges.
Asked about the authorities’ involvement in the market, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference, “We continue to monitor foreign exchange market trends with tension. We will take appropriate action against excessive fluctuations.”
A Japanese foreign exchange market official told local public broadcaster NHK, “As the U.S. has raised interest rates and the Ukrainian war situation is urgent, there is a growing concern among investors that the authorities will intervene in the market again.”
Earlier, on the 22nd of last month, when the yen-dollar exchange rate soared to 145.90 yen (based on the Bank of Japan’s tally), Japanese authorities sold dollars for the first time in 24 years to buy yen and lower the exchange rate to 140 yen.
Japan’s Ministry of Finance announced on the 1st that its foreign exchange intervention performance from August 30 to September 28 was 2.8382 trillion yen (about 27.7 trillion won).
