Japan ready to take ‘decisive’ steps on yen – finance minister

TOKYO, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Japan stands ready to take “decisive” steps in the foreign exchange market if excessive yen moves persist, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Monday, in a fresh warning against investors selling off the Japanese currency.

“It’s important for currencies to move stably, as sharp and one-sided moves are undesirable,” Suzuki said in a post-cabinet meeting news conference, referring to the yen’s recent sharp declines.

“We intervened the other day and we have said we would take decisive steps as needed. There’s no doubt this has guarded against speculative moves,” he said.

The remarks did little to prevent the yen from weakening further. The dollar briefly rose to 145.40 yen later on Monday, marking the highest level since Japan intervened in the currency market to prop up the yen on Sept. 22.

“There’s no change to our stance that we will take decisive steps in the currency market as needed,” Suzuki told reporters after the dollar’s rise to the daily high.

Japan spent up to 2.8 trillion yen ($19.34 billion) intervening in the foreign exchange market last month to slow the yen’s decline when the currency fell to a 24-year low near 146 yen.

Asked about the large size of intervention, Suzuki said the amount was decided by…