Japan Can Conduct 30 More Yen Interventions, Goldman Sachs Says

Japan has the firepower to intervene 30 times in currency markets at last week’s scale, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., though officials are expected to conserve its reserves and step in at more effective moments.

Authorities likely spent about ¥5 trillion ($31.3 billion) last Thursday to prop up the yen after it weakened past 160 against the dollar, Yuriko Tanaka, an economist at the Wall Street bank, wrote in a report late Friday. The intervention during relatively moderate volatility suggests policymakers view that level as the “line of defense,” she added.