The yen headed for its biggest daily gain in more than two weeks after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama's latest comments on the currency kept traders on alert for the risk of intervention. The Japanese currency strengthened as much as 0.6% to 157.95 per dollar on Friday, outperforming all of its Group-of-10 peers. Katayama said US President Donald Trump shared concerns over the yen during a meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier this week in New York, offering some relief after renewed dollar strength pushed it toward the key 160-per-dollar level, and she said she would continue to coordinate with her US counterpart Scott Bessent. Japan and the US carried out their first coordinated yen-buying intervention since 1998 this summer after the currency weakened beyond 160, and Japan spent a record ¥15.4 trillion, or $97.4 billion, intervening in the month through Aug. 26, according to Finance Ministry data. Moh Siong Sim, a strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., said intervention risk should put a ceiling on further yen weakness and that the currency may be nearing a turning point as Trump's concerns point to deeper US-Japan coordination to support it.
Japan's finance minister flags intervention risk and US-Japan coordination, strengthening the yen against the dollar.
