Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The yen strengthened beyond 90 versus the dollar for the first time since February as Japan’s Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii reiterated opposition to intervention in foreign-exchange markets. Japan’s currency rose against all of its 16 most-traded counterparts tracked by Bloomberg on Fujii’s comments yesterday at the Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh. The dollar fell against the euro for the first time in three days on increased demand for riskier assets as a gauge of consumer confidence rose this month more than previously estimated. “Fujii said they won’t intervene,” said Sebastien Galy, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas Securities SA in New York. “That gave people the license to sell the dollar-yen.” The yen climbed as much as 1.6 percent to 89.77 versus the dollar, the strongest level since Feb. 11, before trading at 89.87 at 10:51 a.m. in New York, compared with 91.27 yesterday. It advanced 1.2 percent for the week. Japan’s currency appreciated 1.3 percent to 132.07 per euro, from 133.86. The dollar slid 0.2 percent to $1.4697 per euro, from $1.4666. Fujii, whose Democratic Party of Japan took office for the first time this month, referred in comments to reporters yesterday at the G-20 meeting to a previous pledge of the nations to refrain from pursuing a currency-devaluation strategy. That agreement applies not only to the yen, Fujii said after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Shift in Japan The Japanese finance minister’s assessment underscores a shift in tone from the previous Liberal Democratic Party, which was perceived to favor a weaker currency as a boost to exports. While LDP-led governments didn’t sell the yen in the past five years, they had a history of currency intervention combined with support for the “strong-dollar” policy of the U.S. “I don’t intend to take strong yen policy, but, at the same time, a deliberate weaker-currency policy was denounced” at the G-20 summit in London earlier this year, Fujii said. “In principle, markets -- the currency market, the stock market -- are the stronghold of a free economy. I have been questioning the idea of easy intervention.” Fujii, whose party won elections promising to boost households’ purchasing power, said last week he didn’t support a “weak yen.” Central banks intervene in foreign-exchange markets by selling and buying currencies. “There remains a strong view that Japan now favors a strong currency in sharp contrast to the view of the previous Liberal Democratic Party-led government desiring a weak yen,” wrote Derek Halpenny, European head of global currency research in London at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd., in a note today. G-20 Agenda G-20 leaders are meeting in Pittsburgh to discuss policy coordination and tighter banking regulation. Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh said in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. may need to be as aggressive in reversing its actions to revive the economy as it was in starting them. A European Central Bank policy maker, Yves Mersch, said in Luxembourg “timely preparation” is needed on raising rates and withdrawing liquidity. The dollar weakened versus the euro on evidence confidence among U.S. consumers rose in September as the pace of job losses slowed. The Reuters/University of Michigan final index of sentiment increased to 73.5 this month from 65.7 in August. A preliminary reading for this month was 70.2. Sterling was the biggest loser among major currencies after the Newcastle Journal reported yesterday that Bank of England Governor Mervyn King called the currency’s drop “very helpful” in rebalancing the U.K.’s economy. The pound fell as much as 0.9 percent to $1.5918, the lowest level since June 8, and slid as much as 0.7 percent to 91.93 pence per euro, the weakest level since April 1. The pound decreased 1.6 percent to 144.31 yen. Pound’s Losses “The pound was the star of all the currencies that fell today,” said Takashi Kudo, director of foreign-exchange sales in Tokyo at NTT SmartTrade Inc., a unit of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. Sterling slid 1.8 percent versus the dollar this week and was headed for a 2.9 percent decline in the third quarter. The U.S. currency earlier rose on demand for safety as the Commerce Department reported that U.S. durable goods orders unexpectedly decreased 2.4 percent in August, after advancing a revised 4.8 percent in the previous month. The median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an increase of 0.4 percent. To contact the reporters on this story: Ye Xie in New York at yxie6@bloomberg.net; Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net

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