TOKYO - Japan remains ready to take "decisive" action against the yen's depreciation, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Tuesday, as the currency hovered in the lower 160 zone against the U.S. dollar, near a level that previously triggered an intervention by Japanese authorities.
"Given the circumstances, there is no change in the fact that we are increasingly in a position to take decisive action," Katayama said when asked about the yen trading in the lower 160 zone Tuesday morning.
Finance Ministry data covering the period from April 28 to May 27 showed Japanese authorities spent a record 11.73 trillion yen ($73 billion) on currency market interventions, while daily breakdowns have not been disclosed.
Before the operations, suspected to have taken place several times between April 30 and early May, the yen fell to around 160.72, its lowest level since July 2024, on April 30.
The interventions helped the yen strengthen to around 155 against the dollar, but it has gradually lost ground, with the U.S. currency continuing to attract buying in a flight to safety amid the Middle East conflict.
