The yen held on to its sharp overnight gains on Thursday after a sudden rally fuelled speculation that Japanese authorities may have stepped into the currency market, keeping the dollar under pressure ahead of the closely watched US jobs report. The Japanese currency was last broadly steady at 158.88 to the dollar, after rising 0.9% in the previous session. ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/yen-in-the-spotlight-after-sudden-jump-4886913))
The move prompted traders to watch for signs of an official intervention by Tokyo. The yen’s advance was broad, with the euro falling about 1% against it on Wednesday and sterling dropping 1.15%.
Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said the size of the move made direct intervention unlikely, although some market participants believed it may have followed a so-called rate check by Japanese officials.
“The yen rally was about 0.9% and it’s not a big move, and I definitely don’t think that was an intervention,” she said. “But some market participants have speculated that the rally was caused by a rate check.” ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/yen-in-the-spotlight-after-sudden-jump-4886913))
The speculation comes after Japan’s finance ministry confirmed that it carried out a co-ordinated yen-buying intervention with the US Treasury on July 31. The ministry said the action was intended to address excessive or disorderly movements in the currency and warned that further joint intervention remained possible. ([mof.go.jp](https://www.mof.go.jp/public_relations/statement/other/20260803072806.html))
Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also reaffirmed at a meeting on August 31 that an orderly yen market was important to global financial stability and that continued co-operation between the two countries would support that goal. ([mof.go.jp](https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/international_policy/convention/bilateral_meetings_between_finance_ministers/20260831224459.html))
The yen has struggled to sustain its recovery since the July intervention, as wide interest-rate differences, concerns about Japan’s public finances and higher energy prices have continued to weigh on the currency.
Attention is now turning to Friday’s US non-farm payrolls figures. Analysts expect an increase of 56,000 jobs, following a fall of 23,000 in July, with the unemployment rate forecast to remain at 4.1%.
Markets are pricing in a 61% chance of a Federal Reserve rate rise in September. A significantly weaker jobs result would be needed to materially reduce those expectations, which could have further implications for the dollar and the yen. ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/yen-in-the-spotlight-after-sudden-jump-4886913))
