Monetary authorities were not trying to prop up exports in their repeated sales of yen for dollars in the past few weeks, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Tuesday.
Rather, the yen-selling was to pre-empt speculative yen buying following the surprisingly good economic growth figures in the latest quarter, Miyazawa told a regular news conference.
"It is not desirable if the yen strengthens speculatively on excessive expectations for the economy, because it disturbs the currency markets," he said.
Japan has stepped into currency trading to sell yen four times since the government's June 10 release of gross domestic data for the January-March quarter. The GDP grew at an annualized rate of 7.9 percent.
Analysts believe the yen-selling operations are intended to help export industries, a vital force to economic recovery. A weaker yen generally boosts exports by lowering the price of goods sold abroad.
But Miyazawa reckoned, "I don't think so."
Individual firms have a break-even level of exchange rates and the yen has not risen above it lately, he said, adding he does not believe in the alleged effects of yen-selling on exports.
Market intervention may or may not help boost the stock market, but it is not a policy objective in any case, he stressed.