TOKYO (Reuters) � The dollar jumped sharply against the yen on Friday, driven higher by talk that Japanese authorities were intervening to buy dollars for yen in their second intervention this month, traders said.
There was no immediate confirmation from the authorities that they had intervened but the dollar rose to 85.40 yen from about 84.55 yen in a matter of minutes.
Japanese authorities intervened to sell yen for the first time since 2004 on September 15, intervening repeatedly through the Asian, European and U.S. trading day and spending an estimated 2 trillion yen ($23 billion) to drive the dollar up from a 15-year low.
The dollar has been under selling pressure on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will take more quantitative easing steps later this year to shore up the fragile U.S. economy.
Japan, which acted alone in last week's intervention foray, is concerned that the yen's climb is damaging an economy already mired in deflation, and has said it is ready to act again if confronted with rapid currency moves.
Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said Tokyo must gain global understanding on its intervention, following concern among other nations about competitive devaluations.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan met U.S. President Barack Obama late on Thursday but the two did not discuss currency intervention, Kyodo news agency reported.
(Reporting by Tokyo Markets Team)
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