Japan's Foreign Reserves Plunge $79.6 Billion Amid Record Intervention

Japan's foreign reserves plummeted by $79.6 billion in August, marking the largest drop on record after the country launched a massive dollar-selling intervention to prop up its currency.

The Ministry of Finance reported that Japan's foreign reserves stood at $1.208 trillion at the end of August, down 6.18% from July's figure of $1.287 trillion.

The decline was largely due to a decrease in foreign securities, which account for about 70% of Japan's reserves and are mostly held in US Treasuries purchased during previous dollar-buying interventions.

Tokyo spent a record ¥15.4 trillion between July 30 and August 26 on its intervention efforts, helping lift the yen from historic lows near 164 per dollar to as high as 155.2 by August 3.