Japan Smashes Daily Yen Intervention Record in April

Japan's authorities intervened in foreign exchange markets on three consecutive days from April 30 to May 6, setting a record for daily yen-buying intervention. The largest operation on April 30 resulted in the sale of $39.64 billion of the country's currency reserves, surpassing the previous single-day record of $37.4 billion set on April 29, 2024.

The intervention helped lift the yen from a near two-year low of 160.725 per dollar to around 155 by May 6, but did not reverse the currency's broader downtrend. The yen resumed its downturn in July, sliding to 40-year lows below 163 per dollar, prompting Japan to intervene again last week.

Tokyo and Washington have said Japan could utilize a COVID-19 era Federal Reserve backstop for major central banks, allowing the country to raise dollar liquidity without outright sales of U.S. Treasuries.