Talking Points
- The Bank of Japan left its monetary settings alone, as almost everyone thought it would
- It also upgraded its assessment of the economy
- The Yen slipped a little; this does not look like a BoJ about to fight the global strong-Dollar
The Japanese Yen weakened little against the US Dollar on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan kept its monetary-policy settings steady, as markets had expected.
That left the central bank’s short-term interest rate target at -0.1%, and its ten-year Japanese Government Bond yield target at zero percent. The annual rise in its holdings of JGBs was kept at 80 trillion yen ($676.9 billion).
The BoJ did upgrade its economic assessment, again as it had been thought likely to. It noted that the Japanese economy continued to recover moderately, and revised up its take on exports and output. A string of more positive data has recently boosted optimism, with the Yen’s 15% fall against the greenback since September boosting exports and, with them, manufacturers’ hopes.
Inflation remains a dark spot, well under the BoJ’s 2% target. Attention will now shift to BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s press conference later today. Any comments on JGBs, and especially any inclination to contain the recent rise in yields, will be listened-out for.
The central bank has made explicit “yield curve control” the novel center of its monetary policy since September. The aim is to keep ten-year yields at zero and to limit rises at the shorter end of the yield curve.
USD/JPY rose from 117.11 to 117.45 after the decision, as the BoJ certainly does not look about to try and fight the prevalent strong-US Dollar trend, especially while it is having such a beneficial effect on the Japanese economy.
Steady gains: USD/JPY
Chart compiled using TradingView
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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research.
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