07:38 AM EDT, 04/30/2024 (MT Newswires) -- USD/JPY trading volume surged to almost nine times its typical level during Monday's suspected intervention by the Ministry of Finance, according to Goldman Sachs data, suggesting the latest round may have been larger than past interventions.

Goldman Sachs data sourced from two of the market's largest interbank currency trading venues suggests USD/JPY trading volume surged 880% above its 12-week average during Monday's trading session with turnover reaching $70.3 billion.

Monday's trading session was a public holiday in Japan yet Japanese yen turnover far exceeded trading volumes in other major pairs like USD/CNH ($10.0 billion), EUR/USD ($7.7 billion) and GBP/USD ($4.7 billion) as a suspected intervention pushed USD/JPY as low as 154.49, from intraday highs of 160.22.

The data is sourced from EBS and RUT interbank trading venues and is published on the Goldman Sachs Marquee platform with a one-day lag. During a previous intervention in October 2022 intervention, USD/JPY trading volume on these platforms reached $67.2 billion when the Ministry of Finance eventually reported that the value of its intervention was around $43.49 billion.

USD/JPY trading volume has been elevated at higher-than-usual levels and sat 253% above its 12-week average, at around $24.4 billion, as the market responded to the Bank of Japan's decision to keep interest rates unchanged last Friday.

Losses in the yen built after the BoJ made clear that its policy stance is still likely to remain accommodative in the future even if there is a further upward adjustment in its interest rate later this year.

The elevated trading volumes could be indicative of increased market pressure on the yen and, or sustained intervention by the Ministry of Finance in order to keep the currency from depreciating further. Japan's Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Masato Kanda has so far declined to comment on Monday's suspected intervention.