The
Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting was the Asian time zone focus
today. The policy board left current settings untouched:
- Short
term interest rate target unchanged at -0.1% - 10
year JGB yield target unchanged at around 0% - +/-50bp
band for 10-year JGB yield target left unchanged - The
BOJ says the vote on YCC was unanimous
There
had been some speculation that Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda would
expand the +/- 50bp band. It was not the consensus expectation, nor
even widely held, but there was a wariness that after the surprise
widening of the band at the BOJ December 2022 meeting Kuroda could
surprise again. He did not.
USD/JPY
was marked higher on the news and, as I update has given a little
back to be circa 136.50. Regional equity markets had been under
selling pressure, their lead taken from the substantial losses on
Wall Street on Thursday and only got a transitory reprieve (pun
intended, its Friday after all) on the BOJ.
Elsewhere
currencies have been mixed. USD/CAD is higher but EUR is a little
higher against the US dollar. CHF too is an out performer against the
USD.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s
Nikkei 225 -0.9% -
China’s
Shanghai Composite -1.1% -
Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng -2.4% -
South
Korea’s KOSPI -1.2% -
Australia’s
S&P/ASX 200 -2.1%
www.forexlive.com