Japan may have sold overseas securities to fund forex intervention

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

By the end of May, Japan's total foreign exchange reserves fell to $1.09 trillion. Foreign currency deposits, another potential source of intervention funding, 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 reached a historic high of 11.73 trillion yen (approximately $73.4 billion). (Jin Shi)