On Thursday, the Japanese Yen reached its lowest point versus the US dollar since 1990, at 150 yen to the dollar.
The Nikkei 225 stock index also dropped nearly 1% in morning trading, hitting 27,006.96, as the Topix index fell to 1895.41, a drop of 0.51%.
Threatening to intervene, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki promised he would take, “appropriate steps” to curtail volatility in the currency market.
Previously the yen had fallen to 132 against the dollar in June, which at that time was the weakest it had been in two decades.
In Japan, the central bank has proven hesitant to raise interest rates due to prevailing economic conditions. This has placed the currency at a disadvantage against other nation’s currencies, where the central banks have been aggressively increasing interest rates to attempt to stifle rapidly rising inflation.
Japan’s present baseline rate continues to stand at 0%. The yen was weakened further when on Wednesday the Bank of Japan ruled out any rate hike at the next policy meeting next week. Policymakers stressed their need to protect the economy from an increasing risk from overseas.
The Daily Financial Trends
