Investing.com - The Bank of Japan unanimously decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged and made no changes to its asset-purchase program, it announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, the BoJ said it was keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged between a range of 0.0% to 0.1%, broadly in line with expectations.
A statement on monetary policy released after the announcement showed that the Bank of Japan’s nine-man policy board voted unanimously to maintain the interest rate at its current level and that no policymaker proposed additional stimulus.
It left its JPY30 trillion yen asset-purchase fund and JPY35 trillion yen credit-lending program unchanged.
In a statement accompanying the policy decision, the Bank of Japan said, “Overseas economies on the whole still have not emerged from a deceleration phase but U.S. economic conditions have continued to improve moderately and the sluggish European economy has stopped deteriorating.”
It added that, “Global financial markets have generally been stable.”
In Japan, economic activity showed some signs of picking up but remained "more or less flat" the central bank said.
Following the decision, the yen was higher against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY shedding 0.18% to trade at 81.35.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were broadly lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dipped 0.15%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index fell 0.65%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1%.
In a statement, the BoJ said it was keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged between a range of 0.0% to 0.1%, broadly in line with expectations.
A statement on monetary policy released after the announcement showed that the Bank of Japan’s nine-man policy board voted unanimously to maintain the interest rate at its current level and that no policymaker proposed additional stimulus.
It left its JPY30 trillion yen asset-purchase fund and JPY35 trillion yen credit-lending program unchanged.
In a statement accompanying the policy decision, the Bank of Japan said, “Overseas economies on the whole still have not emerged from a deceleration phase but U.S. economic conditions have continued to improve moderately and the sluggish European economy has stopped deteriorating.”
It added that, “Global financial markets have generally been stable.”
In Japan, economic activity showed some signs of picking up but remained "more or less flat" the central bank said.
Following the decision, the yen was higher against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY shedding 0.18% to trade at 81.35.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were broadly lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dipped 0.15%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index fell 0.65%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1%.