The yen fell amid volatile trade on Friday after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained its accommodative monetary policy stance at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting, while Asian shares rose in the broader market.
The BOJ kept interest rates around zero on Friday, as expected, while removing a reference to the amount of government bonds it has roughly committed to buying each month.
The central bank also issued fresh estimates projecting inflation to stay near its 2% target in the next three years, signalling its readiness to raise borrowing costs this year.

Still, the Japanese yen fell to the weaker side of 156 per dollar in a knee-jerk reaction to the decision, and last stood at 156.15 per dollar.
“Currency markets were likely looking for some form of more explicit communication on policy moves. But it appears markets may be too hopeful,” said Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at OCBC.
Ten-year Japanese government bond futures came off lows.
Focus now turns to BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda’s news conference later on Friday for further details of the BOJ’s policy outlook.

Fears of an intervention from Tokyo to shore up the yen also remained high, given the yen’s decline to multi-decade lows against a resurgent dollar.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday the country is concerned about negative effects of the weak yen, adding to the slew of aggressive jawboning from authorities in recent weeks, though to little effect.
“Absence of any other measures so far just gives the green light for dollar/yen to keep testing policymakers’ patience,” OCBC’s Wong said.

Riding on a weaker yen, Japan’s Nikkei, opens new tab extended early gains and was last 1% higher.
Elsewhere, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, opens new tab rose nearly 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, opens new tab surged 2.5%, while Chinese blue chips, opens new tab edged 1.3% higher.

SOURCE: REUTERS