April 26 (Reuters) - The Japanese yen jumped against the dollar on Friday, with traders on high alert for signs of intervention by Japan's monetary authorities to support the currency.
The dollar JPY=EBS fell sharply to 155 yen from 156.8, before tracking back to around 156.23, up 0.3% on the day. It was not immediately clear what caused the move.
Japan's Ministry of Finance was not immediately available for comment.
"The MOF is almost duty-bound to go in and send a message to markets and the trading community is bound to challenge that," Kit Juckes, currency strategist at Societe Generale, said.
"What bothers me is that dollar/yen is not going up in a disorderly way for the MOF to whack it back down the other way."
Traders have been on watch for weeks for possible intervention by Japanese officials, as even a historic exit from negative rates has failed to lift the currency. It hit a 34-year low earlier on Friday as the Bank of Japan left interest rates on hold at its latest meeting.
Japan intervened in the currency market three times in 2022, selling the dollar to buy yen, first in September and again in October as the yen slid towards a 32-year low of 152 to the dollar.
The yen has been under pressure for years as U.S. interest rates have climbed and Japan's have stayed near zero, driving cash out of yen and into dollars to earn so-called "carry".
Japanese politicians have been describing its slide as excessive and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has hinted at future rate hikes. The BOJ has no currency mandate but a weakened yen affects inflation because it raises import prices.
Japan's three main monetary authorities held an emergency meeting last month to discuss the weak yen, and said they wouldn't rule out any steps to stop what they described as disorderly and speculative moves in the currency.
The strong dollar prevailed at last week's International Monetary Fund/World Bank spring meetings in Washington too, and the United States, Japan and South Korea issued a rare joint statement on the issue.
Speaking after the Group of 20 (G20) finance leaders' meeting in Washington, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the Japanese central bank may raise interest rates again if the yen's declines significantly push up inflation, highlighting the dilemma the weak currency has become for policymakers.
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BOJ's balancing act https://tmsnrt.rs/47eb9Dg
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