Japan's July yen-buying intervention sets fresh daily record

TOKYO, Nov 9 : Japanese authorities conducted a record single-day yen-buying intervention in foreign exchange markets in July, selling $50 billion worth of dollars to stem the currency's slide.

Quarterly data from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) released on Monday showed Japan intervened on three days from July 30 through August 3.

The largest operation amounted to 7.98 trillion yen ($50.36 billion) on July 30, surpassing the previous single-day record of 6.28 trillion yen spent on April 30, according to MOF data dating back to 1991.

The data also showed that Japan spent 5.55 trillion yen on July 31, when the US also intervened by selling euros for yen, as well as 1.87 trillion yen on August 3.

The latest data provides a detailed daily breakdown of the previously disclosed record monthly intervention of 15.4 trillion yen ($97.19 billion) conducted from July 30 through August 26.

"The enormous scale of intervention underscored the government's sense of urgency to stem the yen's decline," said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute.

"As the situation surrounding Iran, a key driver of the yen's weakness, has not been resolved, the yen could remain under downward pressure going forward."

Japan re-entered the market to buy yen from July 30, including the rare joint action with the US on July 31, as the Japanese currency reached its weakest levels in 40 years near 164 per dollar.

The Bank of Korea also timed its own won-buying intervention with Japan's to amplify the effectiveness, South Korean officials said at the time.