TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese stocks have been falling in reaction to the crisis in Ukraine and a decline in US financial markets, but they should respond appropriately as the government fleshes out an economic growth strategy, Economy Minister Akira Amari said on Tuesday.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei is the worst performer among major developed stock markets this year, down more than 13 per cent after rallying 57 per cent in 2013 on the back of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's massive fiscal and monetary stimulus to reboot the world's third-largest economy.

Amari also said the market was to some extent moving simply on its own expectations and disappointment regarding the possibility of further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, and that the government's basic fix for falling share prices was to strengthen Japan's economic fundamentals.