Traders on watch for intervention as yen tumbles to 34-year low

Japan has warned that it will consider all options to combat weakness in the yen after the currency slumped to its weakest level against the US dollar since 1990.

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Following weeks of flirting with the closely watched 152 level versus the greenback, the yen blew straight through this mark on April 10 and dropped below 153 as US inflation data reverberated through global markets.

That has put traders on alert for intervention by the Japanese authorities, whose jawboning of markets has done little to change the downward momentum.

"Whether this involves currency intervention or not, we authorities are prepared for all situations all the time," Mr Masato Kanda, Japan's top currency official, told reporters on April 11.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki later echoed that warning, telling reporters officials are watching currencies "with a high sense of urgency".

The latest decline in the yen was triggered by consumer price readings that prompted investors to push back expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in

2024. That suggests that the US interest rate gap with Japan will remain wide for longer.