Japan govt official says recent yen moves 'rough'

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese government official said on Friday that recent exchange-rate moves have been "rough", but declined to comment on whether Tokyo would directly intervene in the market to arrest sharp yen rises against the dollar.

"Recent exchange-rate moves have been rough. We're closely watching currency market moves with a sense of urgency," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The dollar fell below 111 yen on Thursday to hit its lowest level since October 2014, triggering market speculation Tokyo could conduct yen-selling intervention to prevent a further yen spike from hurting the export-reliant economy.

(Corrects yen level in third paragraph to below 111 yen, not 110 yen.)

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto, writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Eric Meijer)