The Japanese yen weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday, after the Bank of Japan left its massive monetary stimulus unchanged and downgraded its inflation outlook for the next fiscal year.
Japan's big employers are set to follow this year's bumper pay hikes with another round in 2024, which are expected to help lift household spending and give the central bank the conditions it needs to finally roll back massive monetary stimulus. Early indications from businesses, unions and economists suggest the labour and cost pressures that set the stage for this year's pay hikes - the largest in more than three decades - will persist heading into next year's key spring wage talks. The head of major beverage maker Suntory Holdings Ltd, for example, plans to offer 7,000 employees average monthly pay hikes of 7% in 2024 for the second straight year, to retain talent in a tight labour market and offset rising inflation.
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said considerations over the central bank's finances would not prevent it from phasing out its massive monetary stimulus when the appropriate time comes. While Ueda said there was "still a distance to go" before the BOJ exits ultra-loose monetary policy, his remarks come at a time when markets are rife with speculation he will dismantle his predecessor Haruhiko Kuroda's radical stimulus programme. Speaking at an academic seminar on Saturday, Ueda said the BOJ's profits will be squeezed when it raises interest rates because doing so would increase interest rate payments it makes to financial institutions' reserves parked at the central bank.