Japan’s vice finance minister for international affairs, Atsushi Mimura, said authorities remained on heightened alert over currency-market developments as the yen extended gains after a sharp move higher on Wednesday. Mimura said he was neither satisfied nor reassured by recent developments and declined to comment on specific currency levels, market movements or whether officials had conducted a rate check. Traders attributed the yen’s advance to increased expectations for Bank of Japan rate hikes rather than intervention by Japanese authorities. After returning from the G20 finance leaders’ gathering in Asheville, North Carolina, Mimura also described discussions between Japan’s Finance Minister and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as very productive on market developments and cooperation within the G20 framework.