Yen Soars on Joint US-Japan Intervention
The yen surged on Monday, August 3, after joint US-Japan intervention in the foreign exchange market. The currency rose by 1% in the Asian morning to an intraday high of 156.01 per US dollar. This followed a more than 3% surge over two trading sessions in the week ended August 2.
The Bank of Japan data showed that Japan may have bought as much as $58.97 billion worth of yen on Thursday, confirming joint yen-buying intervention on Friday. Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at BBH, said: 'History is clear, joint FX intervention packs a punch, and investors should lean with the official flow, not against it.'
The recent bout of yen-buying hammered the US dollar, causing the euro to rise to a 1½-month high of $1.1559 early in Asia on Monday, while sterling hovered near a two-week top at $1.3484.