The Bank of Japan refrained from raising interest rates in October because of concern "unstable" global financial markets could derail economic growth, minutes show.
The bank should continue to examine upcoming economic indicators and other relevant information as well as financial market conditions carefully, most members said, according to minutes from the Oct. 10-11 Policy Board meeting released Friday.
Fallout from the U.S. subprime-mortgage collapse has wiped $1.8 trillion from world stock markets since Oct. 31, the yen has gained more than 4 percent and oil has approached $100 a barrel. Policy makers kept the central banks' key rate on hold this week and BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said the U.S. housing slump and market rout could get worse than the bank forecast.