Bank of Japan policy rate kept unchanged, yen-dollar rose to the 157 yen range in response to Governor Ueda's cautious stance on rate hikes.

【12/19Market Overview

Tokyo time, the dollar/yen rose from the mid-yen to 154yen level to 155.47yen, after the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged. During European hours, when BOJ Governor Ueda said in a press conference that “information such as spring wage talks next year is also necessary,” the market viewed a possible rate hike for next month as further pushed back and yen-selling accelerated. Also, although he stated that they are “watching the impact of the policy hold carefully,” and answered that “imported goods prices are calming on a year-on-year basis,” this was interpreted as not being overly concerned about the yen’s depreciation, and the dollar/yen rose to 157.13yen.In New York time, 7–9Q/Q U.S. GDP for the July-September quarter, weekly initial jobless claims, GDP for November, and a composite leading index for the U.S. economy shown favorable, the dollar/yen rose to 157.80yen.