Japan currency diplomat warns of action against excessive forex moves

Japan will respond “appropriately” to excessive volatility in foreign exchange markets, its top currency diplomat said Wednesday, after the U.S. dollar crossed the 144 yen line, an over seven-month high.

“We will closely watch developments in the currency market with a sense of increased urgency and respond appropriately if (forex) moves become excessive,” Masato Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, told reporters.

The comment is the latest warning made by Japanese authorities, who are increasingly on alert against what they see as the yen’s “rapid and one-sided” depreciatio...