The Bank of Japan announced earlier today that it would make no changes to its existing monetary policy, keeping the benchmark interest rate at 0.1% and maintaining the asset purchase program at ?40 trillion ($504 billion). While that had been generally in line with the consensus of analysts polled, some market players had been hoping that the BOJ would surprise with news of additional easing measures. Markets are now pricing in more easing by July, which would follow the BOJ pattern, says one economist in Tokyo. Read more
