Following Finance Minister Katayama’s comments to curb the yen’s weakness, USD/JPY fell to 156.70.
【12/22Market Overview
Tokyo time, the dollar/yen rose sharply at the end of last week and then pulled back on profit-taking. With comments from senior government officials including Finance Minister Katayama, Financial Secretary of the Treasury Mimura, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara suggesting restraint on a weaker yen, the USD/JPY fell to157.23yen. After one round, it remained slightly soft, but the rebound was limited. In European trading, USD/JPY was157yen around, showing little movement.During NYtime, when Finance Minister Katayama said that the yen depreciation was “not entirely fundamentals but speculative,” and that there would be measures against excessive exchange rate fluctuations, with intervention left at a free hand, the dollar/yen briefly fell to156.70yen.
【12/23Market View
