Yen eases but retains intervention-driven gains

NEW YORK, Aug 4 : The yen eased on Tuesday but held on to most of its gains from last week's rare coordinated intervention by Tokyo and Washington.The Japanese currency had rallied as much as 5 per cent over the last three trading sessions, with Japan confirming coordinated yen-buying intervention on Friday with the U.S. in a rare move. The yen was last down 0.25 per cent at 157.56 per dollar, paring some of its gains after hitting a three-month high of 155.20 the previous session but remaining well above its 40-year low of 163.99 touched in July. The joint action by Japan and the U.S. appears to be signalling to the market not to short the yen, said Axel Merk, chief investment officer at Merk Investments. "As most people would agree that interventions in the currency markets have a limite