Japan may have raised funds for record-breaking yen market intervention by selling US Treasuries

According to reserve data released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance on Friday, as of the end of May, Japan’s holdings of foreign securities had decreased by $75.6 billion compared to April. This decline is roughly equivalent to the amount recently used by Japan to intervene in the market in order to support the yen. The Ministry of Finance confirmed last week that, as of May 27, funds used for foreign exchange market intervention that month had reached a record 11.73 trillion yen. An official from the Ministry of Finance, speaking at a press briefing on the report, admitted that foreign exchange market intervention was one of the reasons for the sharp decrease in foreign exchange reserves, and stated that this was the largest drop on record.