The dollar fell against the yen in the New York foreign exchange market, trading in the lower 158 yen range. With the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan believed to have conducted yen-buying intervention the previous day, caution over additional intervention grew, capping the dollar's upside. In late trading, the dollar-yen pair was down 0.8 percent at 158.225 yen. According to people familiar with the matter, the U.S. Treasury Department notified several banks through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York about the possibility of yen intervention on the 31st, keeping market tensions high. The previous day, authorities in Japan and South Korea conducted currency intervention by buying their own currencies. The South Korean won was down about 1 percent against the dollar at 1,439.66 won, after hitting a nine-month high the day before.
Intervention caution and actual yen-buying by Japan/BOJ weaken USD/JPY, strengthening JPY.
South Korean authorities intervened to buy won, strengthening KRW against USD.