Latest performance from Bank of Japan fails to shock and awe analysts
The financial markets may have approved of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) paradigm shift on Wednesday, sending shares higher and the yen lower, but analysts called it a damp squib.
At its closely watched policy meeting on Wednesday, the BOJ said it would make controlling the yield curve the driver of its new policy framework, using a combination of its policy interest rate and government bond purchases.
Expectations headed into the meeting were more uncertain than usual, particularly as the central bank had said it would conduct a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of its policies as it aimed to reach its long-delayed 2 percent inflation target.
Financial markets clearly approved, with the Nikkei 225 index finishing up nearly 2 percent, while the Topix index tacked on around 2.7 percent. The Japanese currency weakened, with the dollar fetching as much as 102.78 yen after the decision, compared with as little as 101.09 yen earlier in the session.
Analysts, however, broadly considered the BOJ's performance just a disappointing change of scenery.
Patrick Bennett, a foreign-exchange strategist at CIBC, said in a note:
The conclusion to the comprehensive review is underwhelming ... Today's actions can't manufacture inflation, and never could. A steeper yield curve might be seen as a boon to banks and funds, but without growth and/or inflation; investors, be they pension or life companies or similar, will simply buy the back end and drive the curve flat or flatter again. The problem is not the price of money but the demand for it.