YEN PAIN

The Japanese Yen has appreciated against the US Dollar (USD) all the way to the 97 level. It has appreciated by about 6% during this month alone and is ~21% up from the last year's low touched in June 2007. Against the rupee also the yen has appreciated by 6.4% in the current month till date.In the past, Japanese authorities had sold yen on all the occasions when the yen-USD rate had approached the 100 mark, with a view to supporting exporters such as Toyota
Motors and Sony Corporation. However, charting a different line this time around, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga stopped short of signaling concerns when the yen- USD rate inched closer to the 100 level and simply stated that the government needs to watch currency moves