The Bank of Japan is widely expected to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged Friday, with investors focusing on any hints of a less dovish tilt as the yen trades around a 34-year low.
Gov. Kazuo Ueda and his fellow board members are set to keep the short-term rate around 0% to 0.1% at the end of their two-day policy meeting, after the central bank called time on its massive monetary easing program last month, according to all but one of 53 surveyed economists.
Just five weeks since that monumental shift, Ueda faces the challenge of striking a delicate balance between putting a floor under the yen while also supporting a fragile economic recovery.