The Japanese yen made a strong comeback against the dollar on Tuesday, causing concerns of possible intervention by Tokyo. This comes after the dollar had reached its weakest point in almost a year following a positive round of U.S. employment data.
The U.S. dollar was valued at 148.92 Japanese yen USDJPY, -0.48%, experiencing a 0.6% drop after plunging to as low as 147.415 yen. Previously, it had reached a high of 150.18 yen. According to FactSet data, the dollar had not traded above the 150-yen level since October 21, 2022.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki had earlier stated that all options were being considered urgently, as reported by Nikkei.
However, foreign exchange analysts were doubtful that the yen’s rebound was a result of intervention.
“Talk of intervention but I am skeptical. It seems like the market is doing it to itself with orders to sell the dollar above JPY150. BOJ intervened three times last year, none was during the US time zone,” noted Marc Chandler, managing director at Bannockburn Global Forex, in a note to clients.
Initially, the dollar had shown strength against the yen and other major currencies following data that revealed unexpected growth in U.S. job openings. In September, job openings rose to 9.6 million, up from a revised 8.9 million in August. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had anticipated a reading of 8.8 million.
The continued robustness of the labor market contributed to a rise in Treasury yields BX:TMUBMUSD10Y, thereby boosting the dollar. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, which measures the currency against a basket of six major rivals, maintained a 0.1% increase, reaching 107.06, after trading at its highest level since November.
