Market News
Yen picks up, dollar little changed as BOJ and Fed hold rates steady - REUTERS
By Sophie Kiderlin and Gregor Stuart Hunter
LONDON/SINGAPORE, March 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was steady on Thursday while the yen strengthened slightly against the greenback after the Bank of Japan left rates unchanged and its governor, Kazuo Ueda, gave remarks in the shadow of the Iran conflict.
The yen was 0.3% firmer at 159.40 per dollar, having picked up during Ueda's comments. The BOJ kept its rate at 0.75% and maintained its assessment that the economy was recovering moderately.
Ueda was even more cautious than usual in his remarks at the press conference, said David Chao, global market strategist for Asia-Pacific at Invesco in Singapore.
"It's so hard to read the tea leaves to begin with, and today was even more so," he said.
The Bank of Japan's decision comes midway through a pivotal stretch of major central bank meetings, as traders hunt for clues on how policymakers will respond to the energy price shock.
The Federal Open Market Committee held interest rates steady on Wednesday and projected higher inflation, steady unemployment and a single reduction in borrowing costs this year, a path that Fed Chair Jerome Powell said was subject to unusually high uncertainty as policymakers take stock of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
