Japan ready to buy more Europe bonds if needed

Japan is ready to buy more European bonds if needed to help support a eurozone shaken up by fiscal debt woes, the finance minister said Friday. Japan will invest more in European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) bonds if needed, after purchasing some 20 percent of them issued since January, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters. "We'd like to contribute to (the emergency lending facility) at the same pace if that could help stabilise the economies of the EU," Noda said. His comments came after eurozone leaders struck a deal on a new bailout package for Greece worth 109 billion euros ($155 billion) that will see banks and private investors also lend their support. The EFSF bailout fund will be allowed to act pre-emptively to prevent contagion including by helping refinance struggling countries' banks and buying their bonds more cheaply on so-called secondary markets. Japan bought a total of 2.68 billion euros ($3.8 billion) of EFSF bonds in January and June, according to the finance ministry. Noda also said he would keep a close watch on the currency market as the yen continues to move in a "one-sided" way. The yen stayed strong in Tokyo midmorning trade, at 78.62 to the dollar against 78.43 in New York late Thursday. But analysts said the chances of Japan's yen-selling intervention were still low with share prices holding firm. "It's hard to expect Japanese intervention unless we see a clear negative impact to the Japanese economy, say, a plunge in stocks," said Osamu Takashima, Citibank Japan chief currency strategist. The key Nikkei-225 index was up 0.76 percent Thursday morning as risk appetite grew after the Greek aid deal. Japan's threats of intervention will not escalate "unless we see a sudden drop in Japanese shares," Barclays Capital strategist Yuki Sakasai said.