Previous Trading Days Events 26.04.2024

The Bank of Japan BOJ kept interest rates steady on Friday and highlighted that inflation was on track to durably hit its target of 2 in coming years, signalling its readiness to hike borrowing costs later this year. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank would raise interest rates if upcoming data back up its latest price forecasts.

The currency takeaway is certainly disappointment from the lack of guidance from the bank, said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney. To me the currency market is telling us it believes that the BOJ policy is too loose and hence why the currency is so weak. The Bank has the ability to do something about that by changing its policy, and if its not going to change the policy, then we shouldnt expect the yen to strengthen.

BOJ maintained its shortterm interest rate target at a range of 00.1 as expected.

Thats not to say we need to wait until the outcome of next years wage talks become clear, Ueda said at a press briefing after the meeting. If we can predict such an impact, we could change policy.

The yen briefly jumped against the dollar after Uedas briefing ended, with traders on high alert for signs of intervention by Japanese monetary authorities. It was not immediately clear whether authorities actually stepped in.

The projections for core core inflation, which is closely watched by the BOJ as an indicator of the broader price trend, for 2024 and…