BOJ keeps policy unchanged, as widely expected

On Thursday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) concluded its 2-day April monetary policy review meeting and made no changes to its monetary policy settings, holding rates at -10bps while maintaining 10yr JGB yield target at 0.00%.

The BOJ vote was 8 to 1, leaving its pledge to buy JGBs unchanged so that its holdings increase at an annual pace of around 80 trln yen.

The decision on maintaining its interest rate targets was made by a 7-2 vote with board members Goushi Kataoka and Yutaka Harada dissenting.

The central bank also made no changes to new forward guidance, adopted in July that pledges to keep interest rates extremely low for an extended period.