Japan’s top currency official has declined to comment on whether the authorities have stepped into the foreign exchange market.
Kanda Masato was speaking to reporters on Friday morning. On Thursday in New York, the Japanese yen briefly surged against the dollar to the 157 level.
He responded to speculation of intervention by his government and the Bank of Japan, saying: “Generally speaking, there is no change in our stance of taking appropriate action against excessive fluctuations in exchange rates. I have nothing to answer about whether we intervened in the market.”
Kanda said it’s natural to believe that recent foreign exchange movements were driven by speculators. He added it would be undesirable if such moves hurt people’s lives.
The Japanese currency briefly rose more than 4 yen against the dollar in New York following the release of a soft US consumer-price index.
The Labor Department said on Thursday morning that prices rose 3 percent in June from a year earlier, but fell 0.1 percent from the previous month.
That was cooler than expected, boosting the view that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as early as September, narrowing a gap in rates between the US and Japan. That would possibly strengthen the yen against the dollar.