- The Bank of Japan's board has voted 8-1 to keep its asset-purchase target at ¥80T a year, rejecting a call by stimulus critic Takahide Kiuchi to slash the goal to ¥45T. (PR)
- As in the U.S., all that money printing has caused an inflation in assets, if not in consumer goods and services, and the Nikkei rose 0.8% to 19,789.81, the highest close since April 2000. The USD-JPY is -0.4% at ¥119.87.
- Meanwhile, Japan's current-account surplus surged to ¥1.44T ($12B) in February from ¥61.4B in January and easily beat consensus of ¥1.15T.
- The latest figure is the highest in almost 3 1/2 years and was boosted by increased income from overseas investments and the trade deficit narrowing to ¥143.1B from ¥864.2B.
- A main reason for the trend is a drop in oil prices, which has made imports cheaper. The weaker yen is also helping.
- The surplus, the eighth in a row, indicates that Japan has again become a large external creditor following a series of current-account deficits at the end of 2013. (PR)
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