Ovabnai: Economic Report: Bank of Japan eases further, sees uncertainty

বৃহস্পতিবার, ২০ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Economic Report: Bank of Japan eases further, sees uncertainty

By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) ? The Bank of Japan announced Thursday it would add about 10 trillion yen ($119 billion) to its asset-purchase program, citing ?a high degree of uncertainty concerning Japan?s economy.?

The monetary policy committee also voted to keep its interest-rate target at 0 to 0.1%, as widely expected.

The additional easing moves were also in line with expectations, with 14 out of the 19 economists surveyed by Reuters expecting more asset-buying funds.

The Bank of Japan?s announcement, coming at the end of its regular policy meeting, briefly sent Tokyo stocks tumbling and the yen rising, only to regain their previous levels minutes later, as investors digested the bank?s statement.

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Less than half an hour after the statement, the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average /quotes/zigman/5986735 JP:100000018 -1.19% ?was down 0.5%, and the dollar /quotes/zigman/4868099/sampled USDJPY -0.5406% ?bought ?84.23, with each close to where they stood ahead of the announcement after suffering a sharp but brief dive.

While some analysts had said the central bank might issue a new target for inflation, the Bank of Japan said it would wait until its next meeting to discuss ?the medium- to long-term price stability that the bank aims to achieve in the conduct of monetary policy.?

Currently, the Bank of Japan has set a 1% target for consumer inflation.

The central bank also sounded a downbeat note on the economy, saying Japan would stick to ?somewhat weak movement ... for the time being,? with the core consumer price index likely to remain flat.

Among threats to the economy, it cited ?a deceleration phase? overseas, as well as uncertainty surrounding events in Europe, the U.S., and with Japan?s recent tensions with China.

The incoming Liberal Democratic Party government, which won in general elections Sunday, and its leader Shinzo Abe have promised to push the Bank of Japan toward more aggressive easing to free the economy from long-running deflation.

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