PARIS (Reuters) – Japan’s top financial diplomat Masato Kanda told reporters on Tuesday that Japanese officials were in close contact with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other foreign officials, on financial markets and currencies in particular. .
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki confirmed that Tokyo and Washington were in close contact with each other on currencies, but declined to reveal the topics discussed.
The diplomat’s statements came as markets fret over the weakness of the yen, which has fallen 10.3% against the dollar this year to regain its highest level since November 2022, at 144.6 yen per dollar. .
At the time, the fall of the yen, which briefly fell to 151.9 yen per dollar, its lowest level in almost 30 years, had worried the Japanese financial authorities and triggered an intervention by the central bank which had strengthened the Japanese currency.
Since then, the divergence in monetary policy with the United States has increased, especially as the markets are beginning to anticipate that the Federal Reserve will raise its rates twice, and no longer once, before reaching its rate. terminal.
“FX intervention could be considered if USD/JPY breaks above 145 and heads towards 150 with rising volatility,” BofA strategists write.
“But a weak yen is less painful than in 2022, thanks to lower oil prices and a recovery in tourism, which could also mitigate the political cost of a weak currency.”
(Report Tetsushi Kajimoto, Leika Kihara, Corentin Chapron, edited by Kate Entringer)
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