Japan's finance minister warns of action to stem yen slide if necessary-Xinhua - 新华网

TOKYO, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Friday that Japan will continue to work closely with the United States and take necessary action against the yen's rapid fall, local media reported.

"We have recently seen sharp, one-sided movements in the foreign exchange market," Katayama was quoted by Kyodo News as saying, after the U.S. dollar briefly topped 160 yen in New York trading overnight, a level not seen since early September.

The dollar's recent rise has been driven by growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate in December following stronger-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data, a move that could further widen the interest rate gap between Japan and the United States.

Japan's Finance Ministry disclosed earlier this week that authorities had conducted yen-buying, dollar-selling operations totaling 15.4 trillion yen (about 96.3 billion U.S. dollars) on July 30, 31 and Aug. 3 to prop up the Japanese currency, including a joint intervention with the United States. ■