Japan Finance Minister says no ‘defence line’ set in dealing with currency moves By Reuters

By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday Japanese authorities have set no “defence line” in dealing with currencies, while also warning the yen’s weakness had progressed “quite a bit”.

Suzuki reiterated that they would not rule out any option if moves become excessive.

The weak yen is in the spotlight as it trades near the 150 level, which is viewed by some traders as the trigger point for intervention from Japanese authorities.

Suzuki shrugged off such a line in the sand.

“We don’t set the so-called defence line which has been speculated about. We focus on the speed of currency moves,” Suzuki told reporters after a cabinet meeting. “In that sense, it seems that the yen’s weakness has progressed quite a bit.”

“We are closely watching currency moves with a strong sense of urgency,” he added.

The Japanese currency last traded at 149.34 yen against the U.S. dollar, its weakest since October when the Japanese authorities last conducted dollar-selling/yen-buying interventions.