Traders will start the week on heightened alert of Japan government intervention to halt the yen’s recent slide – possibly with rare US assistance – as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned of action on abnormal moves. Speculation of intervention is building after traders reported during Friday’s US trading session that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had contacted financial institutions to ask about the yen’s exchange rate. Japan’s top currency official had declined to comment earlier that day on whether a rate check was conducted on its end.
“Rate checks are typically the last warning before such action takes place,” said Michael Brown, strategist at Pepperstone.