The yen was trading at 156.4 per dollar<\/a> at 6:20 a.m. ET. The yen also rose against the euro and British pound. <\/p>\n Stock Chart IconStock chart icon U.S. dollar\/Japanese yen exchange rate. <\/p>\n Atsushi Mimura, Japan’s Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs, said Thursday that authorities were “neither satisfied nor reassured” by the recent moves and “remain on a state of heightened alert,” according to Reuters.<\/p>\n Japanese government bond yields eased following a solid sale of 30-year<\/a> dated debt Thursday, after coming under pressure amid a global sell-off and investor concerns about the country’s fiscal position as it finalizes its 2027 budget. <\/p>\n Yen-tervention?<\/p>\n The currency move follows a similar sharp 1% spike in the yen against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, which fueled speculation among market watchers<\/a> about whether Japanese authorities had staged another round of action. The currency earlier this week crossed the 160-per-dollar mark, which is often seen as a key threshold increasing the chance of intervention. <\/p>\n Japan spent a record 15.4 trillion yen<\/a> ($98 billion) to boost the yen between July 30 and Aug. 26, according to its finance ministry. The U.S. separately confirmed its participation in a coordinated effort in late July<\/a> in which it used its foreign-currency holdings to buy yen. Washington has not disclosed the exact amount<\/a>, though\u00a0a July 31\u00a0Reuters photo<\/a>\u00a0shows U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s notepad reading, “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil.” <\/p>\n Bessent told CNBC on Monday<\/a> that he believed the Japanese government and Bank of Japan would take action that would lead to a stronger yen. He also privately urged officials to communicate the path of interest rates, according to local media<\/a>. <\/p>\n Officials in both Washington and Tokyo have expressed concerns that disorderly moves in the yen<\/a> could destabilize global markets.<\/p>\n Crucially, analysts say<\/a> prolonged weakness in the currency could prompt domestic investors to reduce their holdings of U.S. Treasurys. Japanese investors are by far the largest overseas holders of Treasurys, with around $1.1 trillion worth of U.S. debt on their books as of June, according to the Department of the Treasury.<\/p>\n It is “possible” Thursday’s current move represented further Japanese intervention, Japan Macro Advisors’ chief economist Takuji Okubo\u00a0told CNBC.<\/p>\n “But I do not think [the Ministry of Finance] has done this kind of small stealth intervention in recent history. So it is probably just a reaction to BOJ Governor Ueda’s comment cementing the high likelihood of a BOJ rate hike in September,” Okubo\u00a0said by email. <\/p>\n There is also doubt that Wednesday’s currency move was an intervention “given the lack of dislocation in the FX electronic matching systems at the time,” ING’s global head of markets Chris Turner said in a note. <\/p>\n The Bank of Japan makes its next monetary policy decision on Sept. 18, with a rate hike increasingly being priced in by markets. <\/p>\n BOJ board member Hajime Takata on Wednesday said<\/a> the central bank should hike rates “nimbly” in response to rising inflation, according to a Reuters report and translation, and suggested there could be faster or bigger moves than its recent semiannual pace. Governor Kazuo Ueda\u00a0was seen keeping the door open to higher rates<\/a> in comments made Tuesday. <\/p>\n “The market is on watch with chatter that intervention could occur around the thin trading conditions of the “Silver Week” holidays that see markets closed for three days immediately after the BOJ meeting,” Deutsche Bank analysts said Thursday.<\/p>\n![\"hide](\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\")
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<\/a>Japanese borrowing costs hit 30-year high as Bessent says Tokyo may intervene to boost yen<\/a><\/p>\n