Japan's Abe: Countries must avoid 'arbitrary intervention' in FX - WSJ

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said countries should avoid seeking to weaken their currencies with "arbitrary intervention," while calling for stable exchange rates, The Wall Street Journal said.

"Whatever the circumstances, we must definitely avoid competitive devaluation, and I think we should refrain from arbitrary intervention in currency markets," Abe told the newspaper on Tuesday after the dollar fell below 110.30 yen , its lowest level in a year and a half.

The dollar then briefly dipped below 110 yen before recovering to about 110.50 yen.

Abe also said currency "stability is always an important factor for the economy," the newspaper said.

The dollar fell on Tuesday its weakest level against the yen since October 2014 and stock markets worldwide slumped as economic data out of Europe and the United States prompted a retreat from riskier assets.

(Writing by William Mallard, editing by G Crosse)

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