BOJ holds interest rates unchanged

Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy on Tuesday, in a widely expected move, confirming the central bank’s policymakers’ preference to wait for more evidence on whether wages will rise enough to keep inflation near its 2% target.

The Japanese central bank also did not make any change to its cautious policy guidance, in which it pledged to take additional steps to ease monetary policy “without hesitation” if necessary.

Markets are focusing on any hints provided by Governor Kazuo Ueda in his post-meeting briefing about when the central bank could end its negative interest rate policy.