BOJ dismisses market talk of early stimulus exit

Tokyo

THE Bank of Japan ramped up efforts to dispel market speculation of an early withdrawal of its massive stimulus, boosting its bond buying plan on Wednesday and reassuring markets that monetary policy will remain ultra-loose given meagre inflation.

BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his deputy Kikuo Iwata on Wednesday stressed the bank will maintain "powerful" easing with inflation far from its 2 per cent target.