But that will be little comfort to holders of dollars, who will have to buy yen at a much higher rate.

Ford will buy 52 billion yen, or about $480 million, worth of newly issued Mazda stock.

And to buy Japanese stocks, foreign investors have to buy yen, which is pushing its value higher.

Fearing that Washington wanted a lower dollar, traders sold dollars and bought yen.

The banks reportedly sold dollars on world foreign exchange markets and bought yen.

But if the Japanese sell bonds, they would receive dollars in return and then buy yen, dealers said.

Traders had been buying yen on the prospect that a revived Japanese economy would bring higher interest rates.

In this climate, Japanese investors began buying yen again.

It takes more dollars to buy yen, for example, so prices of television sets in dollars should go up.

For example, he sold British pounds in the forward market and bought yen outright.