TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s foreign reserves hit a record high of $1.110
trillion at the end of September, up from $1.070 trillion at end-August
and surpassing the previous record of $1.074 trillion marked at
end-November 2009, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.
The reserves appeared to be pushed up by the large-scale forex
intervention to sell yen for the U.S. currency that Japan conducted last
month in a bid to prevent the yen’s rapid rise from hurting exporter
profits and thus a sustained economic recovery.
The country’s forex reserves remain the second largest in the
world, next to China’s which are estimated at $2.45 trillion at the end
of June.
The biggest changes in Japan’s forex reserves usually occur when
the Bank of Japan intervenes in the currency market on behalf of the MOF
to prevent a steep appreciation or depreciation of the yen.
Japan intervened in the foreign exchange markets to the tune of
Y2.1249 trillion last month, the first such action since mid-March 2004,
as the yen hit a 15-year high against the dollar at Y82.88 on Sept. 15.
Foreign exchange reserves consist of securities and deposits
denominated in foreign currencies, International Monetary Fund reserves,
IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) and gold.
At the end of last month, Japan’s foreign currency reserves stood
at $1.051 trillion, IMF reserves at $4.69 billion, SDRs at $20.83
billion, gold at $32.16 billion and other reserve assets at $444
million.
tokyo@marketnews.com
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[TOPICS: M$J$$$,M$A$$$,MAJDS$]
