The Bank of Japan kept its unprecedented monetary easing program unchanged on Thursday, just hours after the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate, increasing the policy divergence between the two central banks.
The BOJ said that it would keep two key rates at current levels and maintain the pace of its asset purchases.
The central bank "is still far from achieving a 2 percent inflation goal," BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said at a news conference, adding the bank "will continue to promote strong monetary easing."