TOKYO Japan confirmed on Tuesday that it did intervene twice in the foreign exchange market in October to support its yen currency, the Ministry of Finance MOF data showed on Tuesday.
The intervention was initiated on Oct. 21 by a drop in the yen to a 32 year low of 151.94 to the dollar, followed by another on Oct. 24.
The yen was bought for the first time in 24 years on Sept. 22 after Tokyo intervened in making a foray in the market without announcing it.
Japan spent 6.35 trillion yen $47.9 billion on two unannounced interventions in October, having spent 2.84 trillion yen on September 22 to stem the sharp fall, which has boosted living costs for resource-deficiant Japan.
The dollar has fallen back to a range around 130 yen since then, stoking concerns about renewed yen rises, which could hamper Japanese exports of cars and electronics.
It was rare for Japan to conduct yen-buying, dollar-selling interventions, given the country's past battle with a strong yen making Japanese goods less competitive overseas.
Japan issues monthly intervention records at the end of each month, and it issues daily results for the previous quarter.