TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has not intervened in the currency market yet but will “most certainly” do so when necessary, the country’s top currency diplomat, Masato Kanda, said on Thursday.
“Markets are making very volatile moves,” Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, told reporters. “We cannot tolerate excess volatility and disorderly currency moves,” he said when asked about the yen’s recent slide to fresh 24-year lows.
Kanda said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) was on stand-by to take action “any time,” though he said possible measures were not confined to yen-buying intervention.
“There are cases where we could conduct stealth intervention. We haven’t intervened yet, but we’re ready to take action any time,” he said.
Kanda declined to comment, when asked whether authorities conducted rate checks in the foreign exchange market.
(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Takaya Yamaguchi, writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Chang-Ran Kim)
