Japan intervenes to weaken yen

Japan intervened in the currency market to weaken the yen for the second time in just over a week, traders said.

In early afternoon trading today, the dollar jumped suddenly from mid-84 yen to as high as 85.38 yen.

A strong yen hurts Japan’s key exporters by eroding their foreign income when repatriated.

Officials at the Bank of Japan and the Ministry of Finance declined to comment.

On September 15, Japan intervened in the market to buy dollars with yen for the first time in more than six years after the dollar fell to a 15-year low of 82.87 yen.