The Japanese yen was much choppy against the US dollar after the Bank of Japan decided to raise interest rates at the end of its two-day monetary policy meeting and unveiled a detailed plan to taper its huge bond-buying programme. The BOJ said its board decided to raise the overnight call rate target to 0.25% from 0-0.1% in a 7-2 vote and decided on a quantitative tightening (QT) plan that would roughly halve monthly bond buying to 3 trillion yen ($19.63 billion), from the current 6 trillion yen, as of January-March 2026. Japans 10-year government bond yield rose to around 1.04%, rebounding from a one-month low. USDJPY witnessed sharp swings in immediate reaction to the rate hike and is currently quoting around 153 mark. The BOJ said that if the outlook for economic activity and prices are realized, it will continue to raise the policy rate and adjust the degree of monetary accommodation.
