Japan sold 4.51 trillion yen ($59 billion) in August to stem the yen's rise against the dollar, the finance ministry said Wednesday. Market watchers say Tokyo only stepped in once during the month, making the move Tokyo's largest-ever currency intervention in a single day.
US and European debt fears and deepening economic woes have sent global investors flocking to Japan's safe-haven currency, driving it up to levels that hurt the nation's exporters and threaten the post-tsunami recovery. The finance ministry said it intervened unilaterally in currency markets on August 4 to counter speculator-driven movements in the yen that it said were hampering Japan's recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. But the data released by the ministry, covering a period from July 28 to August 29, do not include daily figures and currency breakdowns, which it plans to unveil in November.