Japan may have sold overseas securities to fund currency intervention

Odaily Planet Daily reported that Japan's holdings of overseas securities decreased significantly in May, suggesting that the Japanese government may have utilized foreign assets, including U.S. Treasuries, to fund its record currency market intervention over the past month. According to foreign exchange reserve data released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance on Friday, Japan's overseas securities holdings decreased by $75.6 billion compared to April.

As of the end of May, Japan's total foreign exchange reserves fell to $1.09 trillion. Foreign currency deposits, another potential source of intervention funds, remained largely unchanged at $162 billion. Earlier, it was confirmed that in the month ending May 28, Japan's intervention in the foreign exchange market hit a historic high of 11.73 trillion yen (approximately $73.4 billion). (Jinshi)