Investing.com - The Bank of Japan boosted the size of its asset-purchase program by JPY10 trillion, in an effort to boost slowing economic activity and to counter the strengthening yen, it announced on Wednesday.
The BoJ boosted the size of its monthly bond purchases by JPY10 trillion to a total of JPY80 trillion.
The JPY10 trillion increase in the asset-purchase program will be split equally towards additional purchases of treasury discount bills and Japanese government bonds, the central bank said in a statement.
The BoJ also left its policy interest-rate target unchanged in the current range of zero to 0.1%
In a statement accompanying the policy decision, the Bank of Japan said the pickup in economic activity has “come to a pause” as overseas economies moved deeper into slowdown, and that the activity was “expected to level off, more or less.”
“The bank expects that, together with the cumulative effects of earlier policy measures, today’s decision to enhance monetary easing will ensure the return of Japan’s economy to a sustainable growth path and price stability,” the central bank said.
Following the decision, the yen was lower against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY adding 0.43% to trade at 79.15.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were broadly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rallied 1.15%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index rose 0.55%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.1%.
The BoJ boosted the size of its monthly bond purchases by JPY10 trillion to a total of JPY80 trillion.
The JPY10 trillion increase in the asset-purchase program will be split equally towards additional purchases of treasury discount bills and Japanese government bonds, the central bank said in a statement.
The BoJ also left its policy interest-rate target unchanged in the current range of zero to 0.1%
In a statement accompanying the policy decision, the Bank of Japan said the pickup in economic activity has “come to a pause” as overseas economies moved deeper into slowdown, and that the activity was “expected to level off, more or less.”
“The bank expects that, together with the cumulative effects of earlier policy measures, today’s decision to enhance monetary easing will ensure the return of Japan’s economy to a sustainable growth path and price stability,” the central bank said.
Following the decision, the yen was lower against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY adding 0.43% to trade at 79.15.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were broadly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rallied 1.15%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index rose 0.55%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.1%.