Bank of Japan keeps ultra-loose policy unchanged.

As expected, the Bank of Japan has left its key interest rate at 0.1%, and maintained its program of expanding the monetary base by ¥60-70T a year. The BOJ expects the economy to continue recovering moderately, although it will be affected by an upcoming rise in sales tax. However, while "inflation expectations appear to be rising on the whole," the BOJ said, CPI is "likely to be around 1.25% for some time." The bank's target is 2%. The USD-JPY was flat at ¥104.30 at the time of writing.