Japan conducted “stealth” currency interventions twice in October

Japan carried out “stealth” foreign exchange interventions twice in October with a record 5.62 trillion yen ($42 billion) spent on one of the days to stem the yen’s rapid fall against the U.S. dollar, government data showed Tuesday.

The largest-ever yen-buying operation came as the dollar neared 152 yen on Oct. 21, pushing it down by nearly 6 yen, followed by 729.6 billion yen spent on Oct. 24 when the U.S. unit also dropped in a short span of time.

“We took appropriate action to counter excess volatility caused by speculators,” Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said at a press conference. “

The...