Japan and US Unite for Yen Intervention in $43.8 Billion Move

The Japanese government and Bank of Japan are estimated to have intervened in foreign exchange markets to defend the yen, with the scale of the operation put at as much as 7 trillion yen ($43.8 billion).

The intervention was triggered by a sharp strengthening of the yen against the dollar in New York foreign exchange trading on Thursday, which briefly touched 157.80 yen per dollar, its strongest level in roughly two months.

Market experts interpreted the moves as an unusually coordinated, simultaneous intervention by the Japanese and US governments to stem the yen's weakness.

The Bank of Japan's Friday projection of current account balances showed a decline of 8.2 trillion yen, exceeding market expectations of 1 trillion to 2 trillion yen.