NEW YORKLONDON, March 27 Reuters The yen dropped to its lowest level since 1990 on Wednesday before rebounding slightly after Japan39;s top monetary officials met to discuss the rapidly weakening currency and suggested they were ready to intervene.

The dollar briefly rose to 151.975 yen , its strongest against the yen since mid1990, and was last down 0.19 at 151.29.

The Bank of Japan, the Finance Ministry and Japan39;s Financial Services Agency held a meeting late in Tokyo trading hours, after which top currency diplomat Masato Kanda said he won39;t rule out any steps to respond to disorderly FX moves.

Japanese authorities stepped in to defend the yen at 151.94 in 2022 and finance minister Shunichi Suzuki on Wednesday used the same words that preceded that intervention, warning Japan would take decisive steps against excessive currency moves.

They are swimming against the current here, to an extent. Intervention helps in the near term, but it39;s not a long term solution, said Bipan Rai, North American head of fx strategy at CIBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

The yen has slumped more than 7 this year, driven by the widening gap between U.S. and Japanese bond yields, which the Bank of Japan39;s small interest rate hike last week did little to change.

The U.S. Federal Reserve beginning an interest rate cutting cycle and a decline in government bond yields outside of Japan may now be key to stemming the drop in the Japanese currency.

I suspect that intervention, or…