FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an electronic screen displaying the current Japanese Yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies in TokyoSINGAPORE - Asian stocks fell on Friday as investors pondered the outlook for U.S. rates after the Federal Reserve tempered its rate-cut views even as inflation came in softer than expected, while the yen was shaky before the Bank of Japan's policy meeting.
But the focus will be on whether the BOJ will take steps to trim its bond purchases or drop clues on its future tapering plans and start reducing its huge balance sheet. The yen's decline to a 34-year low of 160.245 per dollar at the end of April triggered several rounds of intervention by Japanese authorities totalling 9.79 trillion yen .
"The wild card is the renewed weakness of the yen over the past two months. Another bout of currency-induced cost-push inflation could be detrimental to achieving the goal of real income growth."On the macro level, markets remain focused on when the U.S. central bank will cut rates and by how much after event-filled week.
James McCann, deputy chief economist at abrdn, said the Fed seems to be in a patient mood as it waits for signs of sustained progress on inflation and expects the U.S. central bank to start its monetary easing campaign in December. The shifting expectations has seen the dollar bounce around this week, with the U.S. currency index which measures its value against six peers, last at 105.25, not far from the one-month high of 105.46 it touched on Tuesday. The index is up 0.3% for the week.
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