JAPAN SET TO RIDE OUT YEN RISE, OFFICIALS SAY
The government is determined to ride out
the latest sharp rise of the yen without taking panic measures
because it expects the currency's appreciation to prove
temporary, senior officials said.
    "The market has already located a ceiling (for the yen) and
market forces are pushing the dollar back up a bit," one senior
Finance Ministry official said.
    He attributed the dollar's fall in recent days to special
factors, in particular, selling by Japanese investors ahead of
the March 31 end to their fiscal year.
    That selling largely came to an end this morning after
about one hour of trading here, the senior official said. "They
(the investors) became more or less quiet after 10 o'clock
(0100 GMT)," he said.
    After falling to a record low of 144.70 yen this morning,
the dollar edged back up in late trading to end at 146.20.
Dealers attributed the late rise to remarks by Prime Minister
Yasuhiro Nakasone that major nations had agreed to stabilise
the dollar above 150 yen.
    Several officials said they did not see any fundamental
reason for the dollar's recent sharp fall.
    One official even called the market's recent actions
irrational. If anything, the U.S. Decision to slap tariffs on
Japanese electronics goods should support the dollar against
the yen because it will cut Japanese exports to the U.S., He
said.
    As a result, several officials said they saw no reason to
alter the broad thrust of government policy agreed to at last
month's meeting of major nations in Paris.
    "We don't see any substantial reason to change our policy
stance," one senior official said.
