The Bank of Japan left policy untouched Thursday as a government stimulus package, progress in U.S.-China trade talks and signs of a bottoming of the global slowdown brightened the economic outlook.
The central bank maintained its target for interest rates and asset purchases, according to its statement Thursday, in line with the view of all 45 economist surveyed by Bloomberg. The BOJ also kept its guidance on policy unchanged, and outlined details of a stock-fund lending program aimed at improving the sustainability of its easing program.
The bank has reached the end of a precarious year without having to delve deeper into its depleted ammunition, despite a wave of easing by central banks when global deceleration looked set to deepen sharply.