USD/JPY as it happened:
last:
The USD/JPY pair was holding near 157.50 after the US market closed on Wednesday afternoon before interventionary selling hit it hard. It fell from 157.50 dramatically after a large number in very liquid trading over the course of about 20 minutes before finally bouncing from 153.00. In the posts above you will find an explanation of why there is less trading at this time of the day (if you need an explanation). The Bank of Japan took full advantage by pushing the yen higher. The flip side of this action is that the bank seems unwilling to deal with the Forex market in times of liquidity. You will recall that the first round of intervention was on Monday, which is a holiday in the Japanese market, and therefore liquidity was lower than usual.
So, it fell to 153.00 before the bounce, which is a very quick bounce to 154 and then a bit slower to 155. Over the course of the session, the bounce extended to above 156 and is just below that as I write (nope, it's back above 156.00, see chart below).
As a warning, Friday and Monday are Japanese holidays, and the markets are closed. This would heighten concerns that there may be more from the Bank of Japan.
Oh, I'm writing about intervention but I should point out that Masato Kanda, Deputy Minister for International Affairs at Japan's Ministry of Finance, and the official who will instruct the Bank of Japan to intervene, when he deems it necessary, will not comment to confirm or deny that intervention has occurred. Personally, I don't think he's fooling anyone.
Elsewhere, it was relatively weak as traders digested the less dovish FOMC and Powell. Major foreign currencies, with the exception of the yen, barely change during the session here.
For Australia, we had data showing a smaller-than-expected trade surplus in April, and that housing approvals had fallen to their lowest level since April 2012. Also from Australia the Premier (the state has about 20% or so of Australia's population) gave an allocation A$1,000 per household (this would total about A$2.5 billion) in the state to cover electricity bills. Such fiscal stimulus is another reason why the RBA is not keen on cutting interest rates soon.
USD/JPY:
