U.S. TREASURY SAYS NO COMMENT ON YEN VALUE

  A Treasury Department spokesman
  refused comment on statements by Robert Ortner, undersecretary
  of economic affairs for the Commerce Department, that the
  Japanese yen was undervalued.
      Ortner, senior economist at the Commerce Department, told
  an Export-Import Bank conference "the yen is still a little bit
  undervalued," and "could go up another 10 or 15 pct."
      Asked for reaction, a Treasury spokesman said officials
  were aware of Ortner's comments but had no intention of making
  any comment on them.
      Ortner, who stressed he was expressing personal views, said
  he thought the U.S. dollar was "fairly priced"
  against most European currencies and added "I do not regard the
  dollar as undervalued at this point against the yen," he said.
      But the yen should go up 10 or 15 pct in value, Ortner
  said, because it is undervalued against the dollar.
      The United States and major trade allies West Germany,
  France, Britain, Japan and Canada met recently in Paris to
  discuss maintaining stability in international currency values.
  

