After intervening in the foreign exchange market to set a record, Japan's holdings of foreign securities decreased by nearly 76 billion US dollars in May.

After record levels of intervention in the foreign exchange market over the past month to support the yen, Japan's holdings of foreign securities in May decreased significantly. According to data released by the Ministry of Finance on Friday, Japan's holdings of foreign securities, including U.S. Treasury bonds, decreased by $75.6 billion compared to April. As of the end of May, total foreign exchange reserves have decreased to $1.09 trillion. Foreign currency deposits remained relatively stable at $162 billion. Previous data released by Japan showed that a record 11.73 trillion was used to intervene in the foreign exchange market in the month leading up to May 28th. A source confirmed that authorities bought yen on April 30th when the exchange rate reached 160.72 yen to the dollar, and it was widely speculated that multiple rounds of yen purchases were conducted in the following days.