Back
11 Mar 2014
Flash: BoJ stayed put as expected - BTMU
FXStreet (Barcelona) - Lee Hardman, FX Analyst at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, observes the BoJ met expectations for inaction in today's meeting.
Key Quotes
"World equity prices maintain upward momentum remaining close to cyclical highs which is gradually encouraging renewed yen weakness in the near-term. The trade-weighted yen index is now almost unchanged so far in 2014 after reversing the gains recorded in January."
"The BoJ maintained unchanged monetary policy at today’s policy meeting remaining committed to increasing the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY60-70 trillion. The BoJ continued to describe the Japanese economy as recovering “moderately”."
"However, the BoJ did acknowledge that the performance of Japan’s exports have been disappointing noting that exports have “recently levelled off more or less”. The BoJ also described the performance of business fixed investment and industrial production more positively."
"The pick up in business fixed investment was described as becoming “increasingly evident” as corporate profits improved, while industrial production was described as increasing at a “somewhat accelerated pace”. The outlook for the Japanese economy and inflation remained unchanged.The loss of economic momentum in the 2H of 2013 ahead of the implementation of sales tax in April has increased downside risks to growth and inflation in 2014 which if they materialise may prompt additional BoJ easing later this year which could provide prove a fresh catalyst to trigger further yen weakness."
Key Quotes
"World equity prices maintain upward momentum remaining close to cyclical highs which is gradually encouraging renewed yen weakness in the near-term. The trade-weighted yen index is now almost unchanged so far in 2014 after reversing the gains recorded in January."
"The BoJ maintained unchanged monetary policy at today’s policy meeting remaining committed to increasing the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY60-70 trillion. The BoJ continued to describe the Japanese economy as recovering “moderately”."
"However, the BoJ did acknowledge that the performance of Japan’s exports have been disappointing noting that exports have “recently levelled off more or less”. The BoJ also described the performance of business fixed investment and industrial production more positively."
"The pick up in business fixed investment was described as becoming “increasingly evident” as corporate profits improved, while industrial production was described as increasing at a “somewhat accelerated pace”. The outlook for the Japanese economy and inflation remained unchanged.The loss of economic momentum in the 2H of 2013 ahead of the implementation of sales tax in April has increased downside risks to growth and inflation in 2014 which if they materialise may prompt additional BoJ easing later this year which could provide prove a fresh catalyst to trigger further yen weakness."