The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday, but cut its core consumer inflation projections issued three months ago, largely due to a collapse in global oil prices.
As expected, the BOJ pledged to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen ($676 billion) through purchases of government bonds and risky assets.
It also extended the March deadline of two loan programs, both aimed at nudging banks to lend more instead of sitting on their pile of cash, by one year. It increased the size of one of the programs by 3 trillion yen, to 10 trillion yen.
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AUD/USD: The hunt for the 0.7000 hurdle
AUD/USD quickly left behind Wednesday’s strong pullback and rose markedly past the 0.6900 barrier on Thursday, boosted by news of fresh stimulus in China as well as renewed weakness in the US Dollar.
EUR/USD refocuses its attention to 1.1200 and above
Rising appetite for the risk-associated assets, the offered stance in the Greenback and Chinese stimulus all contributed to the resurgence of the upside momentum in EUR/USD, which managed to retest the 1.1190 zone on Thursday.
Gold holding at higher ground at around $2,670
Gold breaks to new high of $2,673 on Thursday. Falling interest rates globally, intensifying geopolitical conflicts and heightened Fed easing bets are the main factors.
Bitcoin displays bullish signals amid supportive macroeconomic developments and growing institutional demand
Bitcoin (BTC) trades slightly up, around $64,000 on Thursday, following a rejection from the upper consolidation level of $64,700 the previous day. BTC’s price has been consolidating between $62,000 and $64,700 for the past week.
RBA widely expected to keep key interest rate unchanged amid persisting price pressures
The Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to continue bucking the trend adopted by major central banks of the dovish policy pivot, opting to maintain the policy for the seventh consecutive meeting on Tuesday.
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