Japan repeats readiness to respond to speculative yen moves

TOKYO, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki issued a fresh warning on Monday about the weakening yen, saying that authorities stood ready to respond to speculative moves behind the currency’s falls.

The remark came after the government’s decision on Thursday to intervene in the currency market to stem yen weakness by selling dollars and buying yen for the first time since 1998.

Suzuki also told a news conference the government and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) were on the same page in sharing concerns about the currency’s sharp declines.

“We are deeply concerned about recent rapid and one-sided market moves driven in part by speculative” trading,” Suzuki told a news conference. “There’s no change to our stance of being ready to respond as needed” to such moves, he added.

The yen’s recent sharp declines, which have pushed up households’ living costs by boosting imported fuel and food prices, have been driven in part by widening divergence between the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary tightening and the BOJ’s ultra-loose monetary policy.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will deliver a speech to business leaders in Osaka, western Japan, later on Monday where he may comment on the yen and the government’s intervention.

Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Kim Coghill and Sam Holmes

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