Dollar Tumbles below 156 Yen amid Speculation of Intervention

Tokyo, April 30 (Jiji Press)--The dollar tumbled below 156 yen in foreign exchange trading Thursday evening Japan time, amid speculation that Tokyo intervened into the market to correct the yen's weakening.

On Thursday afternoon, when the dollar was trading above 160 yen, Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama told reporters that the time for the country to take "decisive action" against the yen's rapid depreciation is "approaching."

Echoing Katayama, Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Atsushi Mimura separately told reporters, "Our (avowed) decisive action is just around the corner."

Warning against recent speculative trading on the currency market, he said, "This is our final advisory for (market players) to withdraw (from such activities)."

On the possibility of Japan launching a currency intervention jointly with the United States, Mimura said, "We've been working very closely and keeping in contact with the United States."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]