BOJ freezes monetary easing as Abe advisers urge caution

Tokyo

THE Bank of Japan (BOJ) has put monetary policy on hold and found backing for its wait-and-see stance from advisers to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who worry more easing could send the yen to damagingly low levels, according to officials in the administration and central bank.

This newfound caution from some of the same Abe advisers who urged the BOJ to launch its massive stimulus in 2013, means Japan is set to be an outlier at a time when central banks from Canada to the eurozone to Singapore have shocked markets by easing policy in recent days.

Concerns about the yen, along with a belief among central bank officials - including governor Haruhiko Kuroda - that coming wage increases will support higher prices, suggest the BOJ could hold policy steady until October, months after many economists expect it to be eased. "The environment under which the BOJ is workin…