A senior official at Japan's Ministry of Finance has confirmed to Market News that the Bank of Japan intervened in foreign exchange markets to weaken the yen on two separate occasions so far -- at 0530 GMT and just after 0815 GMT. The comments would seem to clarify confusion in foreign exchange markets over how many times the Japanese monetary authorities had acted following remarks from Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa, who confirmed that "appropriate action" had been taken and Vice Minister for International Affairs Haruhiko Kuroda, who said later in the European morning the BOJ was continuing to intervene. The BOJ's initial buying of dollar-yen at 0530 GMT sent dollar-yen up sharply from Y123.65 to Y125.07, before it drifted off, finding good support around Y124.55-60. The second bout of intervention saw the dollar rise from Y124.65 to Y125.00. Since then the dollar has slipped back to Y124.30. //MarketNews