The Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy as widely expected and kept its forward guidance unchanged on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve signaled rate cuts amid rising risks to economic growth. The Policy Board of the BoJ voted 7-2 to maintain interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank. The bank said it will purchase government bonds so that the yield of 10-year JGBs will remain at around zero percent. Further, the bank will purchase JGBs in a flexible manner so that their outstanding amount will increase at an annual pace of about JPY 80 ... (full story)