TOKYO (AFP) - Japans central bank on Friday said it would inject more than 20 billion dollars in liquidity to calm markets in response to global turmoil triggered by the Greek debt crisis. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also vowed to take necessary steps as Tokyo stocks closed 3.10 percent lower and the yen remained at relative highs against the euro following overnight panic selling on US markets. I am very concerned, Hatoyama told reporters. The government should take responsible measures, he added without specifying what steps his centre-left government was considering. The Bank of Japan offered to provide two trillion yen (21.8 billion dollars) in liquidity to financial institutions such as banks and brokerages against their collateral pooled at the BoJ, starting Friday and ending May 27. It was the first move of its kind since December during Dubais sovereign debt scare and the biggest since December 2008 when the financial crisis sparked by the Lehman Brothers collapse in September that year emerged. The Bank of Japan aims to increase a sense of security in the markets by providing ample funds, said BoJ official Yuichi Adachi. The injection into the short-term money market via a same-day operation was to boost liquidity as investors moved out of the euro, analysts said, before sentiment towards the single currency improved later in the day. It was a case of the central bank sending a message to show it was acting swiftly to respond to the market, said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute. Eurozone debt fears engulfed Asian markets after US shares on Thursday saw a spectacular intraday fall on deepening concerns that Greeces debt crisis would spread through Europe. The BOJ said its cash injection aimed to support Japanese stocks by curbing the yens rise and making financial market conditions more accommodative. However whats underlying the Greek crisis is markets deep-rooted distrust of the single currency, which global financial markets had never experienced before, Ueno said. Chief government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano told reporters that Japan must ensure that Greeces problems wont affect the Japanese economy, the worlds second largest. He also said the government would make appropriate decisions on foreign exchange by watching market moves. Finance Minister Naoto Kan said his counterparts from the Group of Seven Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States would hold a teleconference later in the day on the Greek crisis. Kan said they were unlikely to agree to intervene in currency markets. However, sentiment towards the euro improved as it regained some ground to 1.2669 dollars from 1.2644 dollars in New York late Thursday, where the unit at one point hit 1.2523, its lowest since March 2009. It traded at 116.46 yen in Asia, compared with 114.02 in New York Thursday. Panic selling swept US markets on Thursday with the Dow Jones suffering its biggest ever intraday drop of almost 1,000 points, or nearly nine percent. It later recovered to close 3.2 percent lower.