Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki stated on Friday that Japanese monetary authorities are closely monitoring exchange rate movements with a sense of urgency, offering no further clues to the market regarding the sharp fluctuations in the yen that occurred just over an hour earlier.

"We are always watching (exchange rates) with a strong sense of urgency," Suzuki told reporters gathered at the Ministry of Finance, refusing to answer questions about whether the authorities had intervened in the market.

Suzuki made these remarks as the yen experienced significant volatility shortly after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda concluded a press conference, following the central bank's decision to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged, which was in line with widespread expectations.

Within minutes of Ueda finishing his speech, the yen weakened to 159.23 per dollar, only to rapidly rebound to 157.37 within a few minutes. The yen subsequently gave back some of its gains and was trading around 157.97 following Suzuki's comments.