- Hours after the Fed Open Market Committee voted to keep U.S. monetary rates steady, the Bank of Japan wrapped its two-day review with the same move, maintaining course and signaling an upbeat outlook.
- The vote wasn't unanimous, though -- it was 8-1 for maintaining a -0.1% interest rate on excess reserves, with new board member Goushi Kataoka as the sole dissenter. The bank also stuck to a 10-year government bond yield target of near zero.
- The board majority says a solid recovery will alone bring acceleration toward its 2% inflation target, but Kataoka argued that with "excess supply capacity in capital stock and labor market," easing effects from current policy weren't enough.
- The CPI is likely to rise for now due to oil and foreign exchange, Kataoka says, but more is needed to bring it up from 2018 on.
- The BOJ board also kept policy to increase holdings of JGBs by about ¥80T per year.
- Nikkei 225 futures traded in Singapore held gains of 0.9% after the rate decision.
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