Status quo BOJ rate decision barely moves a needle on USD/JPY

• USD/JPY is barely moving in response to BOJ’s status quo rate decision.  
• The BOJ kept key rates unchanged and took note of the weak external sector as expected.  

USD/JPY is currently trading at 111.75, having clocked a high of 111.90 earlier today.  

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained short-term interest rate target at -0.1 pct and voted 7-2 to keep the 10-year JGB yield target around zero pct, as expected. Further, it retained the pledge to buy JGBs in a flexible manner with an aim to increase monetary base at an annual pace of around 80 trillion yen.  

The central bank also tweaked its assessment of the Japanese economy, citing growing risks from the slowdown in the external sector.  

All this was expected and priced in by markets in the last 24 hours or so. Therefore, the policy statement released a few minutes before press time has not had any impact on the JPY pairs.  

Looking forward, the pair may revisit session highs near 111.90 if the US Treasury yields rise. As of writing, the 10-year yield is trading largely unchanged on the day at 2.64 percent.  

Technical Levels