In This Article:
* Yen's recent falls not justified by fundamentals - MOF's Kanda
* Govt won't rule out any options - Kanda
* Gov't-BOJ meeting produces no written statement
* Escalated verbal warnings leave analysts unimpressed (Adds Kanda's comment, context on dearth of tools)
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara
TOKYO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Japan is ready to take action in the currency market and will not rule out any options to address "clearly excessive volatility" seen in the yen, the country's top currency diplomat said on Thursday, issuing the strongest warning to date on the currency's plunge to 24-year lows.
"Volatility is recently heightening in the currency market. Especially in the past few days, we've seen one-sided, rapid yen declines driven by speculative moves. It's clearly a move that can be described as excess volatility," vice finance minister for international affairs Masato Kanda told reporters.
"The yen's recent rapid moves cannot be justified by fundamentals," he said, adding that the government and the Bank of Japan were "extremely worried" about the currency's slide.
"If such moves continue, the government is ready to take action in the currency market and won't rule out any measures," he said.
When asked whether yen-buying intervention is a possibility, Kanda said: "As I said, we won't rule out any options."
Kanda made the remarks after attending a meeting of officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Financial Services Agency (FSA) on Thursday to discuss global financial markets.
Such meetings are held on an ad hoc basis, usually to signal to markets the government's concern over rapid exchange rate moves. No written statement was issued after the meeting.
"We'll look at market moves on a daily basis and if we think something is not right, we'll take appropriate action," Kanda said, when asked how long volatility needed to continue for Tokyo to consider acting.
Kanda pointed to the fact that the Japanese currency shed 5 yen against the dollar in just two days on Sept. 6-7, and lost about 25% versus the dollar since March.
The dollar dipped as low as 143.43 yen after Kanda's remarks before bouncing back to around 144 yen. It last traded around 144.02 yen, off Wednesday's 24-year high of 144.99 yen.
"Kanda's language didn't sound as if Tokyo is ready to intervene immediately, which is why the dollar moved back above 144 yen," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.