Japan's finance minister Shun'ichi Suzuki's recent comments are crossing the wires:

• FX stability is very important.
• Closely watching market moves.
• Did not comment when asked whether weak yen is negative.

There has been no reaction to these comments. USD/JPY is moving in on the higher levels since January 2017 and trades near 118.30. The US dollar is strong at the start of the week in risk-off conditions. Weekend headlines  included an FT report claiming that US officials believe Russia asked China to supply military equipment. The Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, said it had not heard of this.