Go to contents

G-7 agree to join forces to stop yen from appreciating

Posted March. 19, 2011 09:41,   

한국어

The Group of 7 industrialized nations have agreed to jointly intervene in foreign exchange markets to prevent the Japanese yen from appreciating amid the currency`s soaring value due to last week`s earthquake.

The agreement has helped lower the yen’s value and prompted major Asian stock markets to advance, thus stabilizing the global financial market.

After holding an emergency videoconference of finance ministers and central bank chiefs, the group said Thursday, “At Japan’s request, the central banks of the U.S., the U.K. and Canada and the European Central Bank decided to collaborate with the Bank of Japan to intervene in the foreign exchange market.”

The G-7 comprises the world`s top seven advanced economies including Japan, the U.S., France, Italy and Canada. The group agreed to collectively intervene in foreign change markets for the first time since May 1995, when the yen’s value soared following the Kobe earthquake.

In the wake of the G-7 agreement and Tokyo`s intervention in the FX market, the yen-dollar exchange rate rose to 81.8 Friday afternoon.

The benchmark Nikkei Index rose 244.08 points (2.72 percent) from Thursday to close at 9,206.75 Friday. In Korea, the benchmark KOSPI index also advanced 22.1 points (1.13 percent) from Thursday to close at 1,981.13 for the third straight day of rise.



constant25@donga.com teller@donga.co