Japan’s top currency official declined to say if authorities stepped into the foreign exchange market early Thursday in Tokyo, in a comment following a sharp strengthening of the yen. “I have nothing to say now on whether we intervened in the foreign currency market,” Masato Kanda, vice minister for international affairs, told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “We will disclose intervention data at the end of this month.” Read more: Yen’s Surge Stirs Talk That Japan Is in the FX Market Once Again The yen strengthened sharply against the dollar early Thursday in Tokyo, briefly touching 153.04 from around the 157.50 mark. ... (full story)