Japanese Intevene Heavily to keep Yen from Rising

The Bank of Japan intervened heavily in March, spending the double of what it spent in February. The only remaining question: just what would have been the yen/dollar rate without this intervention?

The Bank of Japan stepped up its efforts to prevent the yen strengthening in March, according to official data that confirmed traders' suspicions that the authorities had covertly intervened in the market for a third successive month. The BoJ said on Monday it spent a total of Y1,131bn ($9.5bn) in March through its foreign exchange account, which generally indicates foreign exchange intervention. In January and February, the bank spent Y678bn and Y513bn respectively.But strategists noted the money spent, believed to be mostly buying dollars for yen, had had little impact on the yen's exchange rate this year. The dollar ended 2002 around Y118.6 against the yen - almost exactly the level at which it was trading when the BoJ released its data on Monday.
Source: Financial Times
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