The Bank of Japan carved out more flexibility for its stimulus tools following a review to shore up its policy framework for a long-haul fight to stoke inflation.
The bank set out a wider-than-previously-thought movement range for bond yields, scrapped a buying target for stock funds and said it would offer lending incentives if it cuts rates at the end of a policy review.
While the currency and bond markets largely took the moves in stride, the BOJ’s decision to focus only on exchange-traded funds on the Topix index drove down shares on the 225-issue Nikkei average.