By Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday that authorities would take appropriate action against excessive moves in the foreign exchange market, reiterating the warning after the yen’s rise to five-month highs.
“We’ve been seeing one-sided, rapid movements since December,” Kato said at a regular press conference, when asked about recent currency market moves.
“We’ve been alarmed by foreign exchange moves including those driven by speculators. As we’ve been saying, we’ll take appropriate action against excessive moves,” he said, without elaborating on what the action would be or what constitutes excessive moves.
While a weak yen has been a headache for Japanese policymakers because it accelerates inflation by pushing up import costs and weighing on consumption, the comments signal the Japanese authorities’ concerns over currency volatility, regardless of direction.
The yen rose on Thursday to 147.31 per dollar, the highest since last October, after Japan’s largest labour union umbrella group Rengo said its member unions were seeking the biggest salary increase in over 30 years.
The results were seen by analysts as shoring up the central bank’s case for more interest rate hikes.
Asked about prospects of further interest rate hikes, Kato said it was up to the central bank to decide monetary policies.
“We expect the BOJ to conduct policies based on the accord with the government,” he said, referring to the 2013 joint statement that committed to achieving the 2% inflation target.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
