The yen rallied further away from the closely watched ¥145 per dollar level Wednesday after reports the Bank of Japan conducted a so-called rate check in the currency market, a move considered a precursor for intervention.
The yen rose more than 1% to around the ¥143 level against the dollar after falling to ¥144.96 early in the Asian session. Around lunchtime Wednesday, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Japan wouldn’t rule out any response if current trends in the foreign exchange market continued and its options included stepping into markets.
A break of ¥145 would bring ¥146.78 into play, the level reached before a joint Japan-U.S. intervention to support the yen back in 1998.