Japan intervened 5 times in foreign exchange market in Q4

Los Angeles Herald (IANS) Tuesday 7th February, 2012

The Japanese government carried out five rounds of interventions into the foreign exchange market in the last three months of 2011, spending about 9.09 trillion yen (about $118.7 billion), data from the finance ministry revealed Tuesday.

The moves were aimed to keep in check the sharp appreciation of the Japanese currency against the US dollar which had been eroding the profits of the exporters in the country, reported Xinhua.

The US dollar bought 75.32 yen Oct 31 last year, marking a postwar peak. The Japanese government stepped into the market with a record 8.07 trillion yen intervention on that day.

The step was followed by a total of 1.02 trillion yen interventions in early November by unannounced operations.

However, the effect of these attempts had been questioned as the yen tended to gradually resume its strength after the movements.