The Japanese yen fell slightly today following the release of minutes of the monetary policy meeting by the Bank of Japan.
The BoJ released minutes of its January monetary policy meeting today. The notes showed that policy makers planned to maintain the current extremely accommodative policy in the near future:
Most members shared the recognition that, although it would take time to achieve the 2 percent price stability target, it was appropriate to persistently continue with the powerful monetary easing under the current guideline for market operations as the momentum toward achieving 2 percent inflation was being maintained.
Yet some BoJ members wanted to emphasize that the central bank is ready to adjust its policy, possibly making it even more accommodative, if necessary:
One member noted that, with a view to demonstrating the Bank’s accommodative policy stance, communicating to the public that it would persistently continue with the current monetary easing was important. However, this member continued that, at the same time, it also was necessary to devise ways to avoid a situation where an expectation that no policy change would occur for the time being would be fixed to an excessive degree in financial markets. A different member commented that, given that the timing of achieving the price stability target had been delayed, it was not desirable to adopt a stance of not taking action until a serious crisis occurred. This member continued that, rather, it was necessary to emphasize the Bank’s stance of taking swift, flexible, and decisive actions, including additional easing, in response to changes in the situation, and to oppose the view that there was a limit to monetary easing — which some people had expressed.
USD/JPY edged up from 111.39 to 111.50 as of 11:10 GMT today, though it retreated from the session maximum of 111.69. EUR/JPY ticked up from 126.45 to 126.60.
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