Yen Holds Gains After Rare Coordinated Intervention by Tokyo and Washington

The yen has held onto most of its gains from last week's rare coordinated intervention by Tokyo and Washington. The Japanese currency rallied as much as 5% over the last three trading sessions, with Japan confirming a joint yen-buying effort on Friday with the U.S.

'As most people would agree that interventions in the currency markets have a limited impact in the medium term,' said Axel Merk, chief investment officer at Merk Investments. 'So I think it’s about signalling and posturing to tell the market, ’Hey! Don’t short the yen so much!’'

The yen was last down 0.38% at 157.79 per dollar, paring some of its gains after hitting a three-month high of 155.20 but remaining well above its 40-year low of 163.99 touched in July.