Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday that the rapid foreign exchange (FX) move is undesirable and the officials will monitor the effect of FX on the Japanese economy and livelihoods.
Key quotes
Forex fluctuations have both positive and negative impacts on the Japanese economy.
Will respond appropriately after analyzing the impact of Forex moves.
Rapid FX moves are undesirable.
Important for currencies to move in a stable manner, reflecting fundamentals.
Government will continue to analyse the impact of the strengthening Yen on the economy and respond appropriately.
The stronger Yen could affect the economy both positively and negatively through various channels, such as overseas sales of exporters and import costs on households and businesses.
Noted that the yen has been trading above an average 145.00 to the dollar that Japanese firms assume for the second half of the fiscal year, but their earnings and financial conditions have been generally healthy.
Market reaction
At the time of writing, USD/JPY is trading 0.03% higher on the day at 140.65.
Japanese Yen FAQs
The Japanese Yen (JPY) is one of the world’s most traded currencies. Its value is broadly determined by the performance of the Japanese economy, but more specifically by the Bank of Japan’s policy, the differential between Japanese and US bond yields, or risk sentiment among traders, among other factors.
One of the Bank of Japan’s mandates is currency control, so its moves are key for the Yen. The BoJ has directly intervened in currency markets sometimes, generally to lower the value of the Yen, although it refrains from doing it often due to political concerns of its main trading partners. The current BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy, based on massive stimulus to the economy, has caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers. This process has exacerbated more recently due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks, which have opted to increase interest rates sharply to fight decades-high levels of inflation.
The BoJ’s stance of sticking to ultra-loose monetary policy has led to a widening policy divergence with other central banks, particularly with the US Federal Reserve. This supports a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favors the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen.
The Japanese Yen is often seen as a safe-haven investment. This means that in times of market stress, investors are more likely to put their money in the Japanese currency due to its supposed reliability and stability. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen the Yen’s value against other currencies seen as more risky to invest in.
