The Japanese yen edged higher after the Bank of Japan concluded its two-day policy meeting today. As was expected, the central bank did not add stimulating measures to its already extremely accommodative monetary policy.
The BoJ left its interest rates near zero and the pace of annual expansion of the monetary base at ¥60–70 trillion. The central bank said in the statement about Japan’s economy:
Japan’s economy has continued to recover moderately as a trend, although some weakness particularly on the production side has been observed due mainly to the effects of the subsequent decline in demand following the front-loaded increase prior to the consumption tax hike.
The bank also believed that the rate of economic expansion should remain the same in the near future. All in all, the statement was relatively positive for the yen, allowing the currency to log gains.
USD/JPY dropped from 108.77 to 108.36 as of 12:36 GMT today after rising to 109.24 earlier. EUR/JPY tumbled from 137.67 to 136.77, reaching the lowest level since September 9.
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