TOKYO, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Bank of Japan money market data on Monday indicated that a spike in the yen rate against the dollar on Friday was not likely the product of official Japanese intervention.
The central bank’s projection for Tuesday’s money market conditions indicated a 630 billion yen ($4.09 billion) net outflow of funds. That exceeded brokerage forecasts of between plus 100 billion yen to minus 300 billion yen, although still below levels seen during actual bouts of intervention.
“The size of the projected treasury-related flows and the net change in current account balances are well below the multi-trillion-yen magnitudes typically associated with decisive intervention once settlement effects appear,” said Shoki Omori, chief desk strategist at Mizuho Securities.
“This suggests that the recent sharp moves in the yen were driven mainly by position adjustments, liquidity conditions, and heightened sensitivity to official signalling, rather than by actual reserve deployment,” he added.
($1 = 153.9200 yen)
(Reporting by Rocky Swift, Editing by Louise Heavens)