Japan: Yen Weakness Triggers Verbal Warnings.

The Japanese yen traded near the psychologically significant 160-per-dollar level on Friday after coming under sustained selling pressure throughout the week, prompting authorities to issue fresh warnings of potential currency market intervention. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama stated that Japanese officials would maintain close coordination with their US counterparts and take appropriate measures if necessary to address excessive and rapid movements in the foreign exchange market. Japan’s top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, also warned investors not to disregard the events of last summer, when Japanese and US authorities jointly intervened in the FX market to support the yen. The currency’s latest decline was largely driven by broad-based US dollar strength amid growing expectations of more aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes, following stronger-than-expected US inflation data and increasingly hawkish remarks from Fed officials.