TOKYO, Oct 10 - Following are immediate views of economists and analysts to an announcement by the Bank of Japan that it would ease monetary policy by expanding the high end of its reserves target to 32 trillion yen ($293.3 billion). The central bank also decided to extend to one year the period in which it will buy Japanese government bonds (JGBs) under repurchase agreements -- a move it had been considering since its last policy meeting.
MAKOTO YAMASHITA, STRATEGIST, UFJ TSUBASA SECURITIES "I don't think anybody in the market expected this. Since Japan has been intervening heavily in September, they will need to absorb funds from the money market. "I think they wanted to avoid short-term interest rates from rising since they will likely need to increase fund-absorbing operations. "The other purpose of course was trying to prevent a stronger yen by easing policy."
KOJI SHIMAMOTO, CHIEF STRATEGIST AND HEAD OF INVESTMENT RESEARCH, BNP PARIBAS "I think the BOJ is showing its concern about the foreign exchange market (stronger yen) and an uptrend in Japan's long-term interest rates. But this is not really a surprise as the BOJ has made similar moves in the past, which is to emphasise its commitment to accommodative monetary policy at the time of economic recovery."//