By 
The dollar dropped sharply against the Japanese yen on Thursday, in the first intervention to support its currency since 1998, after the Bank of Japan bucked the trend of other central banks by not hiking interest rates.
The dollar
USDJPY,
-1.32%
dropped swiftly to as low as 142.10 yen from 144.08 yen, in action timed around the close of the business day in Japan.
Masato Kanda, the vice finance minister for international affairs, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying the country took bold action in markets.
Expectations had been building that Japan might intervene, with its currency down 23% this year.
The Bank of Japan earlier in the day kept interest rates unchanged, and Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said it had no plans to keep up with the interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks. He said the yen’s fall was “one-sided” and driven by speculation.
U.S. stock futures
ES00,
+0.30%
turned higher after the intervention. The dollar’s strength, not just against the yen but other currencies including the euro, has been seen as weighing down on risky assets, and it’s also been a drag for U.S. multinationals.
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