Japan's Finance Minister Warns Against Rapid Yen Moves

By Megumi Fujikawa

TOKYO--Japan's finance minister issued a fresh warning against speculative currency moves Friday after the yen weakened to 160 against the dollar, a level widely viewed as an intervention warning zone.

Speaking at a regular news conference, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama called recent yen movements "one-sided and rapid," comments that will put markets on alert for potential action to prop up the yen.

"We will continue to coordinate closely with the U.S. Treasury Department and respond appropriately," she said.

Katayama's remarks come as renewed inflationary worries in the U.S. have strengthened the dollar, pushing the yen back toward levels that previously prompted Japanese authorities to step in.

Tokyo intervened in the currency market over the summer to contain sharp yen declines, spending a record $50 billion in one day. Despite the scale of the operations, which included rare joint action with Washington, the yen's downtrend hasn't reversed.

The Bank of Japan's monetary tightening has also had little effect on the currency, even though a narrowing rate gap with the U.S. should be favorable for the yen.

The dollar touched 160.04 yen on Thursday and was recently trading around 159.90.

Part of the recent weakness can be attributed to hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer-price data earlier this week, which fueled market expectations of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, reinforcing views that the BOJ could be moving too gradually to narrow the rate differential meaningfully.

The yen's slide remains one of the major risks for Japan's price outlook, as a weak currency drives up prices of imports such as fuel and food. According to Bank of Japan data released Thursday, import prices rose 24.8% on a yen basis in October from a year earlier, following September's 23.8% increase.

Write to Megumi Fujikawa at megumi.fujikawa@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 12, 2026 20:45 ET (01:45 GMT)