The BOJ is doing the same thing, as promised (from Marketwatch):
In Japan, the Bank of Japan has started a one-day extraordinary meeting of its policy-setting panel to discuss the impact of the war in Iraq on Japan's already sluggish economy.
It's the first meeting under the new governor Toshiko Fukui. The board is expected to discuss extra monetary easing steps, including a possible increase in the central bank's target of outstanding balance of current accounts held by private financial institutions and review the limit the amount of government bonds the BOJ can hold, local media reports say.
The market is focusing particularly on whether BOJ will start buying foreign bonds, which could result in a stronger dollar versus the yen.
Shares of Sony (SNE: news, chart, profile) (JP:6758: news, chart, profile), which relies heavily on U.S. exports, dropped 1.3 percent to 4,500 yen. Canon (CAJ: news, chart, profile) (JP:7751: news, chart, profile) lost 2 percent to 4,420 yen. Fujitsu (FJTSY: news, chart, profile) (JP:6702: news, chart, profile) tumbled 2.2 percent to 355 yen.
In Seoul, Korean Air (KRNRF: news, chart, profile), the nation's largest air carrier, fell 7.8 percent to 10,700 won after oil prices rose.
Chip giant Samsung Electronics (SSNGY: news, chart, profile) fell 1.9 percent to 306,500 won. Hyundai Motor (HYMLY: news, chart, profile), the country's largest automobile maker, sagged 2.9 percent to 24,900 won. |
