By Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Top Japanese authorities said on Monday they have been in close coordination with the United States on foreign exchange, but declined to confirm news reports of rate checks that drove the yen sharply higher.
The yen has spiked since the New York Federal Reserve reportedly conducted rate checks on Friday, putting investors on high alert to the risks of the first joint U.S.-Japan currency intervention in 15 years.
“We will continue to closely coordinate with the U.S. authorities as needed, based on a joint Japan-U.S. statement issued in September last year, and will respond appropriately,” Japan’s currency diplomat Atsushi Mimura told reporters in the morning.
The September statement reaffirmed both countries’ commitment to market-determined exchange rates while agreeing that foreign-exchange intervention should be reserved for combating excessive volatility.
Japanese officials have said it marked the first written U.S. confirmation of the right to intervene in the event of excessive volatility.
Later on Monday, Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the government is closely monitoring the foreign exchange market “with a sense of urgency.”
Asked about any progress in coordination with the United States, Katayama also referred to the joint Japan-U.S. statement: “I believe we are responding in line with the statement.”
Both Katayama and Mimura did not comment on the possibility of a coordinated market intervention by the two governments.
They also declined to comment on Friday’s reported rate checks that led to the yen suddenly jumping against the U.S. dollar. “There is nothing I can talk about,” Katayama said.
U.S. participation in currency intervention is extremely rare, with the most recent one conducted in March 2011, when it joined other countries in a concerted intervention to weaken the yen following a massive earthquake in Japan.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Writing by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Shr Navaratnam)
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