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Bank of Japan holds interest rates, makes yield curve control policy more flexible

TOKYO - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its short-term interest rate target unchanged at -0.1% on Friday but also took steps to make its yield curve control policy more flexible.

The central bank maintained guidance allowing the 10-year yield to move 0.5% around the 0% target, but said those would now be "references" rather than "rigid limits", Reuters reported.

The BOJ raised the upper limit for the fixed rate operations and said it will offer to buy 10-year Japanese government bonds (JGB) at 1.0% in fixed-rate operations, instead of the previous rate of 0.5%.

The move lifted Japan's benchmark bond yield to a nine-year high. The 10-year JGB yield spiked to 0.575% for the first time since September 2014. ...continue reading

Source: ANNnewsCH

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