Japan has 'free hand' in dealing with excessive yen moves, finance minister tells Bloomberg

TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Japan has a free hand in dealing with excessive moves in the yen, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday, signaling Tokyo's readiness to intervene in the currency market to arrest sharp declines in the currency.

"It has been a move made in a very short period of time. It is completely speculative rather than anything that reflects fundamentals," Katayama said when asked about the yen's declines after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's news conference last week.

The yen fell after Ueda's news conference following the BOJ's decision to raise interest rates to levels unseen in 30 years, as markets saw his comments signaling the bank was in no rush to raise rates further.