BOJ sets new shortterm rate target in 00.1 range
BOJ to apply 0.1 interest to reserves to nudge up rates
Board votes to ditch bond yield control, risky asset buying
BOJ expects ultraeasy conditions to stay for time being
BOJ may hike rates if trend inflation heightens further

TOKYO, March 19 Reuters The Bank of Japan BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from its focus on reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus.

While the move was Japan39;s first interest rate hike in 17 years, it still keeps rates stuck around zero as a fragile economic recovery forces the central bank to go slow on further rises in borrowing costs, analysts say.

The shift makes Japan the last central bank to exit negative rates, and ends an era in which policymakers around the world sought to prop up growth through cheap money and unconventional monetary tools.

We reverted to a normal monetary policy targeting shortterm interest rates, as with other central banks, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said at a press conference after the decision.

If trend inflation heightens a bit more, that may lead to an increase in shortterm rates, Ueda said, without elaborating on the likely pace and timing of further rate hikes.

In a widely expected decision, the BOJ ditched a policy put in place since 2016 by former Governor Haruhiko Kuroda that applied a 0.1 charge on some excess reserves financial…