Japan-US Joint Intervention Aims to Halt Yen's Slide

Japan is set to announce joint action with the US to halt the yen's slide to 40-year lows, marking a rare instance of bilateral coordination between the two countries. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama will make the announcement on Monday morning, stating that Tokyo and Washington acted together in the currency market last week to arrest excessive yen declines. The operation is still ongoing, according to one Japanese government official.

The joint intervention comes as Japan struggles to curb a relentless drop in the yen, which has pushed up import prices and stoked broader inflation. Market sources say that rounds of yen purchases by the Japanese and US authorities were made last week, with Japan selling as much as $58.97 billion to buy yen when it intervened in New York markets on Thursday.

The Bank of Japan's June rate hike to a 31-year high of 1% also gave the struggling currency little lasting boost. The dollar ended Friday trading around 157.60 yen, having retreated from near 164 yen, the highest since 1986.