By James Regan and Toshiro Hasegawa Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The yen retreated from a 15-year high and Japanese shares rose as the government intervened for the first time since 2004 to weaken the currency. Crude oil slid the most in two weeks following an increase in U.S. stockpiles. The yen fell 2.2 percent to 84.82 per dollar as of 7:15 a.m. in London, the biggest drop this year, and weakened against all 16 major counterparts. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 2.3 percent, the most since July, led by exporters including Canon Inc. and Toyota Motor Corp. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Euro Stoxx 50 advanced 0.1 percent. Yoshito Sengoku, Japan’s top government spokesman, said he believes 82 yen per dollar to be the Finance Ministry’s line of defense to keep currency gains from harming the economy, which is relying on exports to drive a recovery from the deepest postwar recession. The attempt to check appreciation comes a day after Prime Minister Naoto Kan survived a leadership challenge from a rival who favored intervention to support exporters. “Kan winning the premiership was a vote of confidence that enabled him to intervene on the yen,” said Ayako Sera, who helps oversee about $310 billion in Tokyo as a strategist at Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. “If the yen continues its reversal, it will put one of the biggest concerns for Japan behind us and we should see increased buying of exporters.” Canon rose 1.9 percent. Toyota and Honda Motor Co., which get more than 70 percent of their revenue from abroad, jumped by almost 4 percent. The Nikkei 225 reversed an earlier slide of as much as 1.1 percent, and more than five shares rose for every two that declined on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. ‘Hazardous’ Yen Rise “With today’s action, the Japanese government has shown its resolve to halt a hazardous rise in the value of the yen,” said Daisaku Ueno, Tokyo-based president at Gaitame.com Research Institute Ltd., a unit of Japan’s largest currency margin company. “The action was too late but better than nothing.” Japan’s currency today reached 82.88 per dollar, its strongest level since 1995, amid speculation the Federal Reserve will buy additional U.S. Treasuries this year to help sustain a recovery in the world’s biggest economy. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts additional purchases of about $1 trillion will be announced as early as November, extending a policy known as quantitative easing that boosts the supply of the greenback. Stronger Yuan China’s yuan rose to the highest level since 1993 against the dollar before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee convenes a two-day meeting today to discuss the Asian nation’s currency policy. Larry Summers, head of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, met with Chinese officials in Beijing last week, while Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Sept. 8 called for faster currency gains. The yuan has appreciated on each of the five days since Geithner’s comments, climbing 0.9 percent to 6.7358 per dollar in that time. That accounts for the bulk of the 1.3 percent advance since China’s central bank ended a two-year peg to the greenback on June 19 to pursue a more flexible exchange rate. The dollar has weakened this quarter against all 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, bolstering demand for precious metals as a store of value. Gold for immediate delivery yesterday touched a record $1,274.95 an ounce, while silver today reached $20.535, the highest price since March 2008. Gold was little changed today at $1,268.60, while silver retreated to $20.486 as Japan’s intervention helped boost the greenback. Crude oil fell 0.6 percent to $76.32 a barrel after the American Petroleum Institute said yesterday inventories rose by 3.33 million barrels last week, climbing to their highest level for this time of year in a decade. To contact the reporter for this story: James Regan in Hong Kong Jregan19@bloomberg.net;

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