Markets Asia: Yen rises, stocks fall: Japan and US intervene jointly in the foreign exchange market
The first joint intervention since 2011 catches markets by surprise. US President Donald Trump hints at further help to prop up the yen.
Tokyo. Japan and the US intervened jointly for the first time in 15 years in the currency market last week to slow the decline of the yen, the finance ministers of both countries announced in separate statements on Monday shortly before the start of trading in Tokyo. US Finance Minister Scott Bessent said in a post on the news platform X that both sides wanted to counter "uncontrolled yen exchange rate fluctuations": "We will not hesitate to participate in further joint interventions."
US President Donald Trump had previously said on board Air Force One: "The yen is weakening and they wanted a little help. And we're always there for Japan."
Following these surprising statements, the yen rose by more than three percent to 155.31 yen to the dollar on Monday morning. Before last week's intervention, in which an estimated $59 billion worth of yen were bought, one dollar was still at almost 164 yen. This abrupt turnaround put pressure on stock prices in Japan, as a stronger yen reduces the results of companies' overseas business when converted.
Translated by urgent.news. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
