Yen Soars as Joint Intervention Packs a Punch

The yen surged on Monday after intervention efforts by Tokyo and Washington, leaving the dollar reeling. The currency rose over one percent to an intraday high of 156.01 per US dollar in Asian morning trading.

This follows a more than three percent surge over two trading sessions last week, with Japan's finance ministry confirming joint yen-buying intervention on Friday. Bank of Japan data revealed that Japan may have bought as much as $58.97 billion worth of yen on Thursday.

Experts say the joint intervention has been successful in the past, with Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at BBH, stating, 'History is clear, joint FX intervention packs a punch, and investors should lean with the official flow, not against it.'

The dollar index was little changed at 99.78 after sliding more than 1.5 percent last week. Oil prices also weighed on the greenback following US President Donald Trump's announcement that he had called off an attack on Iran.