TOKYO | Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:51am IST
TOKYO (Reuters) - Further gains in the yen should be stopped and Japan will maintain close coordination with the United States and European Union if it intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb its currency's rise, Japan's foreign minister was quoted as saying.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said he did not expect joint intervention involving other countries.
Japan intervened in the foreign exchange market on September 15 to curb the rising yen, which was at 15-year highs against the dollar. It was the first time Tokyo had stepped into the currency market in six years.
Maehara, in excerpts of the interview also published online late on Friday, said the yen had strengthened more than indicated by the actual strength of the Japanese economy.
"So with a very strong determination on the part of the Japanese government, any further appreciation of the yen should be stopped," Maehara, who has no direct responsibility for currency policy, was quoted as saying.
"Going forward, there may be a possibility for the Japanese government to show its very determined intent" to keep the currency from strengthening, Maehara was quoted as saying.
Tokyo would keep its economic partners informed of its actions, he was quoted as saying.
The dollar is trading at about 84.20 yen after falling to a 15-year low of 82.87 yen on September 15, shortly before Japanese authorities intervened to stop yen strength from damaging a fragile economic recovery.
A sudden slide in the yen against the dollar on Friday stirred suspicions Japan had intervened for a second time this month.
But the yen later recovered and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Friday he was unaware of any new market intervention by Tokyo.
Kan, just re-elected as leader of the ruling party, faces a weak economy and a divided parliament, so is keen to be seen as proactive in efforts to curb the strength in the yen, which has hurt Japan's stock market and sparked the ire of exporters.
(Reporting by Charlotte Cooper)
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