07:18 AM EDT, 03/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Japanese yen strengthened against the dollar on Tuesday after Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said the country could take steps to curtail the currency's weakness.

The yen was up 0.13% against the US dollar, trading at about 151.27 at 11:04 GMT.

The finance minister's warning to speculators selling the yen followed similar comments on Monday from Masato Kanda, Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs and considered the country's top currency diplomat, Reuters reported.

"Rapid currency moves are undesirable," Suzuki told reporters after a cabinet meeting, according to Reuters. "It is important for currencies to move stably, reflecting economic fundamentals."

The Bank of Japan last week ended eight years of negative interest rates.