Japan Conducts Yen-Buying Intervention for 1st Time in 24 Yrs

Tokyo, Sept. 22 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese financial authorities carried out foreign exchange market intervention to buy yen for the first time in 24 years Thursday to stop the currency's downward march.

"We can't overlook repeated excessive fluctuations caused by speculation," Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told an emergency press conference Thursday night.

The previous time when Japan carried out yen-buying intervention was June 1998. At that time, the currency was hit by massive selling amid the country's banking crisis.

Thursday's intervention, believed to have been conducted shortly past 5 p.m. (8 a.m. GMT), sent the dollar below 141 yen from above 145.80 yen in about 40 minutes.

At a two-day Policy Board meeting through Thursday, the Bank of Japan decided to keep its superloose monetary policy intact. This was followed by a press conference by Governor Haruhiko Kuroda.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]