It
was a session
spent waiting for the Bank of Japan policy meeting outcome.
While
we waited we got inflation data from Japan, for the Tokyo area. This
is viewed as a guide to nationwide inflation that will be published
in around 3 weeks. The numbers came in higher than expected, and
core-core inflation, which strips away both fresh food and fuel costs
and is the measure of Japanese inflation that is closest to the US
‘core’ CPI, surged to its highest in 41 years. the Bank of Japan have been instantly telling us that inflation in Japan is transitory. So far it isn’t. The Bank also forecast that it’ll fall from around September/October. Many other central banks have been incorrect with the ‘transitory’ call.
Japanese
media (Nikkei) published a piece saying their sources indicated
- the
BOJ would forego revising YCC - would
conduct an examination of past monetary policy - would
consider changing its expression of forward guidance regarding the
possibility of easing policy further (prompted, the Nikkei said by
Japan’s announcement to lift COVID-related border control measures
from midnight April 29 (Japan time)
The
yen fell a little on this report after some initial choppiness, but
not by much. USD/JPY moved above 134.20.
If you need a catch-up, BOJ previews are below, while we wait.
And, still to come is Bank of Japan Governor Ueda’s press conference at 0630 GMT (0130 US Eastern time)
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s
Nikkei 225 +0.7% -
China’s
Shanghai Composite +0.8% -
Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng +0.8% -
South
Korea’s KOSPI +0.4% -
Australia’s
S&P/ASX 200 +0.4%
Bank of Japan previews:
