Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks during the presidency press conference at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting at Toki Messe in Niigata on May 13, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

TOKYO - Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday that every option is on the table to address excess volatility in foreign exchange markets.

Suzuki told a press conference that the government is watching developments with a heightened sense of urgency and will take "appropriate" action to ensure currency moves are stable.

The yen has seen a sharp drop versus the US dollar, with the psychologically important 145 line in sight, prompting the latest warning by the minister

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The yen has seen a sharp drop versus the US dollar, with the psychologically important 145 line in sight, prompting the latest warning by the minister.

"One-sided currency moves or unstable ones are undesirable," Suzuki said, adding that "we will respond as needed to excessive currency moves without ruling out any options."

Numerous times in the previous year Japan intervened into the currency market, launching yen-buying operations using US dollars to redress the yen's weakness, with the forays into the market following a series of similar warnings such as those issued by Suzuki recently.

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The US Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hike policy compared to the Bank of Japan's ultra-easy policy has seen and will likely see the continued widening of the interest rate gap between both countries, with the divergent policies a leading factor in the yen's weakness versus the US dollar.