Yen Surges After Joint Intervention by Tokyo and Washington

The yen surged on Monday after a joint intervention by Tokyo and Washington in the foreign exchange market. The currency rose 1% in the Asian morning to an intraday high of 156.01 per US dollar, following a more than 3% surge over two trading sessions last week.

Japan's finance ministry confirmed that the country had bought as much as $58.97 billion worth of yen on Thursday, in a coordinated effort with the United States to shore up Japan's historically weak currency. Since 1998, all three coordinated US FX intervention episodes were successful, according to Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at BBH.

The latest bout of yen-buying has hammered the dollar, which was little changed at 99.78, having slid more than 1.5% last week. The euro rose to a 1-1/2-month high of $1.1559 early in Asia on Monday, while sterling hovered near a two-week top at $1.3484.