Yen Leaps on Intervention, Dollar Bruised
The yen surged on Monday after intervention efforts by Tokyo and Washington to support Japan's historically weak currency. The Japanese finance ministry confirmed joint yen-buying intervention on Friday, with data showing that as much as $58.97 billion worth of yen was bought on Thursday.
Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at BBH, said that 'History is clear, joint FX intervention packs a punch, and investors should lean with the official flow, not against it.'
The yen's 1% gain in Asian morning trading took its intraday high to 156.01 per US dollar, following a more than 3% surge over two trading sessions last week.
Meanwhile, the dollar was hit by the yen's rise, with the euro rising to a 1-1/2-month high of $1.1559 and sterling hovering near a two-week top at $1.3484.
The dollar index was little changed at 99.78, having slid more than 1.5% last week, while oil prices also weighed on the greenback after US President Donald Trump called off an attack on Iran and said talks between the two sides would happen on Monday.