BOJ hangs loose in face of rising interest rates elsewhere

Tokyo

THE Bank of Japan (BOJ) will not alter its monetary stance in response to shifts elsewhere, governor Haruhiko Kuroda insisted on Thursday after the central bank opted to keep its ultra-easy policy unchanged despite the fact that the US Federal Reserve opted a day earlier to raise interest rates.

Financial markets had been watching the latest meeting of the BOJ Policy Board closely to see whether it would introduce more flexibility into its policy of yield curve control, in order to allow for widening interest rates differentials between Japan and the US in particular.