Yen Soars on Joint Intervention, Dollar Takes Hit

The yen surged on Monday after intervention by authorities in Japan and the US. The currency rose 1% to an intraday high of 156.01 per US dollar, following a more than 3% surge over two trading sessions last week.

Bank of Japan data showed that Japan may have bought as much as $58.97 billion worth of yen on Thursday. This move was seen as part of a joint intervention with the US to shore up Japan's historically weak currency.

Goldman Sachs analysts noted that encouraging repatriation would be the most powerful policy for influencing the currency over a long period of time. The dollar index was little changed at 99.78, having slid more than 1.5% last week.