Finance Minister Jun Azumi indicated Friday he sees no immediate need for additional intervention in the foreign exchange market, saying the yen has not sharply appreciated against the dollar since the government stepped in during late October.
Azumi said the government is closely watching the foreign exchange market, expressing his intention to "make various responses" to any speculative move or excess volatility in the yen's exchange rate. But he also said the yen has not spiked since the intervention last month.
The Finance Ministry and the Bank of Japan intervened in the market Oct. 31 to stem the yen's rise, with market traders estimating record selling in a single day of ¥7.5 trillion to ¥8 trillion to purchase the dollar. The U.S. currency, which had been trading at the mid-¥75 level, surged to ¥79.55 at one point right after the intervention. On Friday in Tokyo, it traded in the lower ¥77 range.
Referring to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, Azumi called on eurozone members to take concrete actions and come up with a plan to prevent the contagion from spreading outside the region and dragging down global economic growth.
