The yen surged against a weaker dollar after an unexpectedly soft US payrolls report on Friday, offering the latest fodder for speculation that authorities could intervene in the Japanese currency again.
The currency rose as much as 1.1% versus the dollar to hit a session high of 156.68 after the data, then pared the gains to trade around 157.32. Market participants remained on alert for moves that could suggest intervention.
“I don’t think there was any” intervention by authorities behind Friday morning’s move, said Lee Ferridge, a strategist at State Street. “But I think the market is expecting it because that last round came when the US dollar was already under pressure. Its always easier to push on an open door.”
The yen had been near a four-decade low of around 164 per dollar last week before the first joint yen-buying operation from Japan and the US since 1998.
The effect of last week’s intervention had faded in recent days, fueling speculation authorities would act again. It also underscored the limits of intervention in reversing the yen’s longer-term decline, with a wide interest-rate gap to the US, Japan’s high debt load and geopolitical uncertainty continuing to weigh on the currency.
