The Nikkei index on the Tokyo stock market closed down 607.12 points, or 0.94%, at 63,754.90 today, as the yen strengthened sharply after Japan and the United States signaled readiness for additional joint intervention in the foreign exchange market. The US dollar briefly fell to the lower end of the 155 yen range from the upper end of the 157 yen range in the morning, after both countries disclosed that they had cooperated in buying yen to intervene in the market late last week, marking the first joint intervention in 15 years. Japan's Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs stated that the latest intervention was a perfect form of the Japan-US currency alliance, and that both countries will continue to cooperate and respond without interruption. Meanwhile, Japan's Finance Minister said that both countries would not hesitate to undertake further joint intervention. However, the Nikkei's decline slowed in the afternoon due to buybacks in artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks, such as Kioxia, which reported strong demand for memory chips.
Kioxia Holdings CorporationKioxia reported strong demand for memory chips, driving buybacks in AI and semiconductor stocks.
Joint Japan-US intervention strengthens yen, weakening USD/JPY pair.