UPDATE 1-Japan Noda: not mulling fx intervention right now

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* Yen jumps to 10-month high against dollar

* Finmin: yen strength more due to dollar weakness -Kyodo

* Japan hasn't intervened since 2004

By Stanley White

TOKYO, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Recent currency moves reflect dollar weakness and the Ministry of Finance isn't considering intervening in the market right now, Japan's deputy finance minister Yoshihiko Noda told Reuters on Thursday.

The dollar briefly dipped against the yen after Noda's remarks, as they suggest the finance ministry will maintain its hands-off approach to currency management in the face of persistent yen strength.

The yen rallied to a 10-month high against the greenback as investors bet interest rates in the United States will remain low. The dollar also slumped to a 15-month low against a basket of six currencies. [FRX/]

Recent dollar weakness is becoming a dilemma for Japan's new government, which has only been in power for two months, as it threatens exporters' earnings and could slow an economic recovery.

"The dollar has weakened again," Noda told Reuters.

"We are not considering intervention right now."

The dollar last traded at 87.35 yen JPY=. The greenback skidded to 87.22 yen on Wednesday, the lowest since January.

Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii played down the significance of the yen's 10-month high against a sliding dollar on Wednesday, saying it was due to dollar weakness, Kyodo news reported.

"This move is basically the U.S. dollar's affair, and therefore not the yen's," Kyodo quoted Fujii as saying in Tokyo.

Japan's authorities intervened heavily earlier in the decade to stop a rising yen from harming exports but they quit in March 2004 at the end of a 15-month long spree in which they sold 35 trillion yen to try to shield a struggling economy.

Fujii has repeatedly said Japan would intervene if foreign exchange rates move abnormally but Kyodo said he declined to to comment on whether the ongoing currency moves were volatile.

Japan's Democratic Party-led government, which voters swept to power in an election in August, has criticised the previous administration for coddling the country's exporters by keeping the yen weak.

Fujii has made comments suggesting a stronger yen would benefit Japan as that could help boost domestic demand. While Fujii later softened his tone, economists say Japan is likely to maintain its policy of not intervening in currency markets that it has held since 2004. ((stanley.white@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1984; Reuters Messaging: stanley.white.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))