	japan conducts currency survey of big investors a finance ministry official said the ministry has recently conducted a survey on foreign exchange transactions by institutional investors but declined to say if it was aimed at moderating their dollar sales however financial market sources said they had heard the ministry has asked life insurance and securities firms to refrain from selling dollars but they were unable to confirm this directly dealers said life insurance firms were not major sellers of dollars in recent trading sessions because they had already sold them to hedge risks dealers said securities houses and trust banks on the other hand have aggressively sold the dollar reuter 
