Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki called Tuesday for "orderly" exchange-rate, movements reacting to what he called volatile fluctuations since last week's Group of Seven meeting.
"Currency movements have been rough since the G7 meeting over the weekend," Tanigaki said, referring to the dollar's fall vs. the yen Monday to its lowest level in three months.
"Sudden speculative movements are undesirable," he said. "The (G7's) basic position remains unchanged. Exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals, and excess volatility and disorderly movements are undesirable."
The U.S. currency sank after the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors called Friday in Washington for more flexibility in exchange rates in "emerging countries with large current account surpluses" as part of efforts to address global current account imbalances. The G7 groups Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the U.S.