Japanese authorities have chosen to keep secret whether to intervene in the currency market

Japan's top monetary official on Monday chose not to let market participants know whether the Japanese government had intervened in the currency market after the dollar plunged 2 per cent against the yen. "There is no comment at this time," said Masamoto Kanda, deputy finance minister. The reluctance of the Japanese authorities to comment on currency movements could raise doubts among market participants about the ministry's stance on currency intervention. This is in the ministry's interest: not intervening in the market also makes traders wary of possible action. Another explanation is that algorithmic trading at a time of market jitters and illiquidity was largely behind the yen's wild swings in October 2023. At the time, Japanese officials also declined to comment on whether to intervene in the market, suggesting that maintaining uncertainty is part of their foreign exchange strategy. The Japanese government will release data on foreign exchange intervention at 18:00 Beijing time on Tuesday. Monthly announcements usually do not include data on the last few working days of the month. Therefore, with Japan intervening in the market on Monday, official data will not be released until the end of May.