Yen rallies as traders alert to intervention risk, US payrolls in focus

By Harry Robertson and Satoshi Sugiyama

LONDON/TOKYO, July 2 (Reuters) - The Japanese yen roseate sharply against the dollar connected Thursday arsenic traders braced for imaginable involution from Japanese authorities, who signalled a caller attack to bolstering the chronically anemic currency.

The yen ‌rally helped sound the dollar down against its peers up of cardinal U.S. jobs figures aboriginal successful the day, which are ‌expected to amusement employment maturation slowed somewhat successful June.

The U.S. dollar fell by astir 1% to 160.9 yen and was past trading astatine 161.35, down 0.75%.

It was not instantly ​clear what drove the determination and Japan's Ministry of Finance declined to comment. Traders and strategists offered differing opinions, with immoderate speculating authorities had checked rates successful the market, prompting jitters successful the currency.

The yen has been trading astatine its lowest successful 40 years, with the dollar bolstered by involvement rates that are good supra Japan's, and the AI banal marketplace boom.

Sources told Reuters Japanese officials were abandoning their wont of telegraphing involution risks, alternatively signalling ‌a much targeted run to compression speculators and ⁠raise the outgo of betting against the yen.

Officials were besides avoiding immoderate proposition of a circumstantial "line successful the sand" exchange-rate level that would trigger action, successful a much assertive attack aimed astatine keeping traders guessing.

"We volition person ⁠to hold for information to ascertain if this was intervention, but the timing of the determination does suggest that it was," said Abbas Keshvani, Asia macro strategist astatine RBC Capital Markets successful Singapore.

"We tin get much (intervention). They person communicated that they privation to beryllium much nimble successful their intervention, alternatively than support a ​specific ​line successful the sand. So their caller attack allows them to intervene much ​frequently."

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a handbasket ‌of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.35% to 101.05.

It deed a one-year precocious of 101.8 past week arsenic beardown economical and ostentation information caused traders to rise their bets connected Federal Reserve complaint hikes.

Sterling rallied against the dollar to a two-week precocious of $1.336 connected Thursday, and was past up 0.45%.

The euro roseate 0.3% to $1.141, up from past week's one-year debased of $1.133.

U.S. PAYROLLS DUE

Many strategists said Japanese authorities could spot Thursday and Friday arsenic bully days for intervention, erstwhile cardinal U.S. jobs information could origin currencies to plaything and trading volumes are lighter up ‌of a U.S. nationalist vacation connected Friday.

Thursday's information is expected to amusement U.S. employers ​added 110,000 jobs successful June, with the unemployment complaint holding dependable astatine 4.3%, according ​to the median estimation of economists polled by Reuters.