THE TAKEWAY: BoJ kept monetary policy unchanged > Will continue to monitor markets; newly added members conclude with unanimous consensus > Yen relatively unchanged
The Japanese Yen strengthened versus the Australian Dollar as the Bank of Japan kept its overnight borrowing rate unchanged at 0.10 percent. Furthermore, policy officials made no changes to their credit loan program and asset purchase fund.
Moreover, the Bank of Japan said it will pay particular attention to global markets and will also pursue powerful monetary easing. Perhaps more importantly the board concluded their meeting with unanimous consensus. The two new officials, Takehiro Sato and Takahide Kiuchi, had their first opportunity to push for increased easing but didn’t.
The Yen is considered a safe haven currency as investors tend to sell high yielding, risky assets like stocks and Australian Dollars when market volatility spikes. Markets have been relatively quite throughout August and volumes have been down along with volatility.
AUD/JPY, 5 Minute Chart
