Yen bides time with BOJ in focus, dollar steady
BOJ) where expectations are for the central bank to stand pat on its ultra-loose monetary policy settings.
Want to take exposure to a sector which grows much faster than GDP
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar held broadly steady while its New Zealand counterpart slipped to a two-month low of $0.60625, pressured by strength in the greenback and China's murky economic outlook.
The yen was last fetching 148.13 per dollar, not too far from last week's roughly two-month trough of 148.80, as it continues to be weighed down by the stark interest rate differentials between Japan and the United States.
The BOJ concludes its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, though any expectations for a phasing out of its negative interest rate policy this month have been quashed in the wake of the country's devastating New Year's Day earthquake and dovish comments by BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda.
«I don't think it is live,» said Carol Kong, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, referring to Tuesday's policy decision.
«I think the earthquake in Japan… really shifted market expectations toward the BOJ not normalising policy any time soon.
»So I don't think today is going to bring any surprises in terms of the interest rate and (yield curve control) policy."
Focus will also be on the central bank's set of economic projections in its quarterly outlook report.
«Markets will closely watch whether the BOJ will revise up the 2025 CPI forecast towards the 2% target or keep it steady at 1.7%,» said Kong.
«What that number prints will signal a lot about whether or not the BOJ sees the lift in inflation being sustainable.»
The European Central Bank (ECB) also meets this week, where expectations are similarly for its deposit rate to
