Japan Slashes Reserves with Record-Breaking Intervention

Japan's foreign reserves plummeted to their lowest level in August after Tokyo launched its largest-ever dollar-selling, yen-buying intervention. The country's foreign reserves stood at $1.208 trillion at the end of August, down by a record $79.6 billion, or 6.18%, from $1.287 trillion a month earlier.

The decline was led by a drop in foreign securities, mostly U.S. Treasuries bought during dollar-buying intervention conducted around two decades ago, which account for about 70% of Japan's reserves.

Tokyo spent 15.4 trillion yen ($98.66 billion) on intervention between July 30 and August 26, marking the largest intervention operation on record in a single month.