Market Commentary and Intraday News

BoJ Minutes: Increasing Asset Purchases Should Reduce Risk Premium

251 days ago

(RTTNews) - Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board felt that economic conditions warranted the increase of the central bank's asset purchase plan, minutes from the board's September 18-19 policy meeting revealed on Thursday.

In addition, the board members noted that price trends may be weakening and inflation is expected to rise slowly.

At the meeting, the BoJ announced a fresh round of stimulus to revive the economy by expanding the asset purchase by another JPY 10 trillion. The total size of the program was lifted to JPY 80 trillion following an additional JPY 5 trillion purchase authorization each for Japanese government bonds and treasury discount bills.

As expected, the benchmark uncollateralized overnight call rate was kept unchanged at 0-0.1 percent by a unanimous vote.

The central bank also cut its assessment of the economy, saying the recovery is "pausing."

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