The Japanese Yen (JPY) extends its sideways consolidative price move against its American counterpart during the Asian session on Tuesday and remains well within the striking distance of the lowest level since November 28 touched last week.
Yen weakened momentarily after BoJ left monetary policy unchanged as widely expected, but swiftly regained stability. This quick recovery underscores the market's assessment that the conditions for a BoJ rate hike in April remain intact. This viewpoint is bolstered by unchanged CPI core-core forecast, which holds steady at 1.9% for the upcoming two fiscal years. However, BoJ refrained from offering any immediate signals for such a policy shift. The decision on whether to raise interest rates will depend heavily on the outcomes of the Spring wages negotiations, especially in terms of the breadth of wage growth. Given these circumstances, Yen still faces potential downside risks in the near term.
BoJ let monetary policy unchanged as widely expected. The forecast for fiscal 2024 CPI core was downgraded, whereas fiscal 2025 CPI core forecast saw a slight upgrade. Notably, CPI core-core forecasts for fiscal 2024 and 2025 were left unchanged at 1.9%, indicating a steady path towards achieving Japan's 2% inflation target sustainably.