Bank of Japan stays put on monetary policy

The Bank of Japan decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged on Thursday, saying the economy "continued to recover moderately" with inflation expectations appearing to rise, although some recent indicators had "shown weak developments".

It was thus decided that the target of increasing the monetary base at an annual pace of about 80trn yen should be kept. The central bank's monetary policy board also decided, by an 8-1 majority vote, to maintain the current pace of asset purchases.

The economy continued to recover moderately despite the negative impact the slowdown in emerging markets had on advanced economies.

The BoJ noted the moderate increasing trend in business fixed investment on the back of a "marked" improvement in corporate profits.

Private consumption was also proving "resilient" thanks to steady gains in employment and income while housing investment was picking up.

Public investment was declining moderately but remained at a high level, it said.

On the price front, the year-on-year rate of change in the consumer price index (CPI, all items less fresh food) was standing at about 0.00%.

Nonetheless, inflation expectations appeared "to be rising on the whole from a somewhat longer-term perspective, although some indicators have recently shown relatively weak developments."

As of 08:29 the dollar/yen was off by 0.27% to 123.21.