Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said at a regular news conference "any liquidity step (by the BOJ) would not mean we are eyeing a return to the zero interest-rate policy in future." He repeated that the BOJ would continue its easy monetary stance to support the economic recovery. He also said foreigners selling stocks had accelerated the fall in the yen and that is "unfavourable." Earlier, minutes of the 18 Jan. meeting of the Council of Economic and Fiscal Policy quoted Hayami as saying he expected a gradual recovery led by private demand to continue. But he added that, as risk factors, overseas economics and market movements in Japan and abroad needed to be carefully monitored. Hayami made his comments despite concerns expressed by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and others about the impact of the US slowdown on the Japanese economy and declining Tokyo share prices.