The yen surged during intraday trading on the 3rd, briefly strengthening to the ¥156.30 range per dollar. Expectations of an early rate hike in the U.S. are receding, while expectations that the Bank of Japan will accelerate the pace of rate hikes are growing.
The yen surged in the Tokyo foreign-exchange market on the 3rd, with the dollar briefly reaching the ¥156.30 range. The yen was more than ¥3 stronger against the dollar than at 5 p.m. the previous day, and it reached the lower ¥156 range for the first time in about a month.
The U.S. Treasury announced that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had told Ueda Kazuo (植田和男), Governor of the Bank of Japan, that he strongly supports Japan taking measures related to its markets and monetary policy. At a press conference, Takata Hajime (高田創), a member of the Bank of Japan's Policy Board, referred to the possibility of two consecutive rate hikes as the situation changes this year, making yen buying and dollar selling more likely as markets focus on the Japan-U.S. interest-rate gap.
Market expectations are strengthening that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates at its September Monetary Policy Meeting. There have also been periods when the exchange rate moved amid coordinated intervention by the Japanese and U.S. governments, and the yen briefly returned to the ¥160 range at the end of August.
This article reports on coverage by The Asahi Shimbun, and new facts will need to be confirmed in subsequent reports.