Nikkei closes down as BoJ agrees to open ended easing
The Nikkei 225 has retreated following the BoJ’s decision to implement monetary easing and raise its inflation target.
The Nikkei 225 closed lower when the Tokyo stock exchange finished for the day (January 22nd) after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced it would be implementing an open-ended monetary easing programme.
Economists had speculated the central bank would remain guarded, without yielding to the demands of prime minister Shinzo Abe, when in fact the two-day meting of the institution's policymakers revealed the BoJ is far more in line with the government's demands than first thought.
In addition to offering to initiate asset purchases from 2014 for as long as necessary, the BoJ will also be doubling its inflation target to two per cent.
Both these changes have been lobbied by Mr Abe since his election campaign last year, while the government and BoJ released a rare joint statement confirming their plans for the world's third-largest economy.
When the Nikkei 225 closed this morning, it fell by 0.3 per cent to an index value of 10709.9 points.
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