By P.R. Venkat and Ronnie Harui
The U.S. and Japan moved to arrest the yen's slide, with Tokyo confirming the first joint intervention to strengthen the currency for the first time since 1998.
Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Monday said that the Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Treasury Department intervened in markets to support the yen, which has been trending weaker and touched a 40-year low against the dollar late last month.
Katayama comments came a day after U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent said in his social-media post that "Friday's coordinated foreign-exchange actions countered disorderly yen movements." He also said that U.S. supported Japan's moves to correct the yen's "substantial undervaluation, and added that the authorities would not hesitate to participate in further joint intervention."
Katayama echoed this, saying the finance ministry was in close communication with the U.S. Treasury Department and wouldn't hesitate to intervene again with its U.S. counterpart.
