TOKYO: Japan escalated its warnings on Friday against recent sharp falls in the yen, expressing "concern" over the moves in a rare joint statement by the government and the central bank.

After a meeting with his Bank of Japan (BOJ) counterpart, the country's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda told reporters that Tokyo will take appropriate action as needed, a sign Japan may be edging closer to intervening in the market in a bid to arrest the yen's declines to near 20-year lows.

"We have seen sharp yen declines and are concerned about recent currency market moves," the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Japan and the Financial Services Agency said in a joint statement released after their executives' meeting.

Officials of the three institutions meet occasionally, usually to signal to markets their alarm over sharp market moves. But it is rare for them to issue a joint statement with explicit warnings over currency moves.

The dollar fell 0.70% to 133.41 yen after the statement.

Unlike other major central banks which are flagging aggressive interest rate hikes to tackle inflation, the Bank of Japan has repeatedly committed to keeping rates low, sending the yen down to within striking distance of 135.20 hit on Jan. 31, 2002. A break past that would be its lowest since October 1998.