Japan’s finance minister sees ‘speculative’ moves in currency market

TOKYO : Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Monday there were some speculative moves in the currency market that did not reflect economic fundamentals, repeating his warning against excessive yen declines.

“We will watch currency market developments with a strong sense of urgency, and will respond appropriately against excessive moves without ruling out any options,” Suzuki told parliament.

Suzuki said various factors are driving currency moves such as the Bank of Japan’s decision to end negative interest rates, Japan’s current account balance, price moves, geopolitical risks, as well as market players’ sentiment and speculative trades.

“As for the yen’s recent declines, we believe there are some speculative moves that do not reflect fundamentals when taking into account domestic and overseas economic as well as price developments,” he said.

The yen touched a 34-year low against the dollar of 151.975 last week and was fetching 151.315 per dollar on Monday morning.