Photo/Illutration The government stealthily intervened in the currency market to prop up the falling value of the yen against the dollar. (Yosuke Fukudome)

Japan spent 6.35 trillion yen ($42.3 billion) on currency intervention between Sept. 29 and Oct. 27, one of the largest sums to prop up the value of the yen over the course of a month in about three decades, the Finance Ministry said. 

Its Oct. 31 report represented the first admission of stealth intervention by authorities during that period although the government has not formally disclosed whether it took such steps.

The 6.35 trillion yen is among the largest monthly spending amounts for yen-purchasing action since the ministry began releasing data on currency intervention in fiscal 1991.

The ministry reports at the end of each month whether authorities intervened in the currency market during the preceding monthlong period.

It also discloses the total amount spent.

Aside from this, the ministry also publishes records on intervention on a daily basis. But detailed data for October will not be made available until February.

As a result, it is difficult to grasp exactly how many times the government jumped into market in October to halt the slide in the value of the yen.

Data by the Bank of Japan and forecasts by the financial sector suggest that around 5 trillion yen was sunk into the market on Oct. 21, making it the largest sum in October.

When the yen was trading at close to 152 to the U.S. dollar in the late hours of that night, the currency strengthened temporarily by as much as 7 yen in transactions at some electronic trading systems.

Although officials close to the government acknowledged the existence of the yen-buying action, the government did not make it public.

Financial experts speculated that more than 1 trillion yen in market intervention also took place on the morning of Oct. 24.

The weakening of the yen has slowed over the past week or so after the currency plunged to 151.90 against the dollar on Oct. 21, a 32-year low.

As of 7 p.m. on Oct. 31, the yen was trading at the mid-148 level.

The government and the central bank announced Sept. 22 that they sold dollars to buy yen for the first time in 24 years to address the fall of the Japanese currency.

They spent 2.84 trillion yen in market intervention in September.

That brings the total spent to support the yen over the most recent two months to 9.19 trillion yen.

Japan’s foreign reserves are used for yen-buying action.

As of the end of September, Japan held around 180 trillion yen in foreign reserves, most of it in the form of bonds, such as those issued by the U.S. government.

In terms of deposits, which are readily used for market intervention, a total of around 19 trillion yen was set aside as of the end of September.

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