Japan MOF: closely monitoring dollar/yen, overnight moves 'quite rapid'

TOKYO (Reuters) - A senior Japanese finance ministry official said on Friday that overnight moves in dollar/yen rates were "quite rapid" and that he would closely monitor the currency market.

Tatsuo Yamasaki, director-general of the Ministry of Finance's International Bureau, made the remarks at the annual Euromoney Japan Forex Forum.

Yamasaki reiterated that the Japanese central bank's aggressive monetary easing was not directly targeting currencies, saying that recent yen moves have been market-determined.

On Thursday, the dollar skidded more than 2 percent against the yen in its biggest one-day decline since May 2010 to a seven-week low of 95.90. The greenback last traded at 97.32 yen.

In May the dollar had hit a 4-1/2-year high of 103.74 yen, driven by aggressive fiscal and monetary expansionary policies pursued by the Japanese government.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)