Yen Falls As BOJ Keeps Policy Unchanged

(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday, after the Bank of Japan left its massive monetary stimulus unchanged and downgraded its inflation outlook for the next fiscal year.

The BoJ policy board, led by Governor Kazuo Ueda, unanimously decided to maintain a negative interest rate of 0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank.

The bank will continue to purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero percent.

The bank also decided to regard the upper bound of 1.0 percent for 10-year JGB yields as a reference in its market operations.

The Asian shares also traded higher, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight and boosted by a sharp rebound in Hong Kong stocks, with technology stocks leading the charge.

Traders now look ahead to the release of some key U.S. economic data as well as a slew of major central bank meetings later this week, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada and the Norges Bank.

Traders are likely to keep a close eye on a report on U.S. personal income and spending, as it includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The safe-haven yen rose against the euro, the U.S. dollar and the yen on Monday. Meanwhile, it held steady against the pound.

In the Asian trading now, the yen fell to 4-day lows of 161.71 against the euro and 188.93 against the pound, from yesterday's closing quotes of 161.15 and 188.22, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 164.00 against the euro and 190.00 against the pound.

Against the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, the yen dropped to 4-day lows of 148.55 and 171.18 from Monday's closing of 148.09 and 170.37, respectively. The yen may test support near 151.00 against the greenback and 172.00 against the franc.

Against Australia, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen edged down to 97.81, 90.43 and 110.23 from yesterday's closing quotes of 97.30, 90.00 and 109.87, respectively. On the downside, 98.00 against the aussie, 91.00 against the kiwi and 111.00 against the loonie are seen as the next support levels for the yen.

Looking ahead, U.K. public sector finance data for December is due to be released at 2:00 am ET in the pre-European session.

In the New York session, Canada new housing price index for December, U.S. Redbook report and U.S. Richmond Fed manufacturing index for January are set to be published.