TOKYO -- Market players are prepared for the Bank of Japan on Friday to double its key rate to 0.5% or to wait until later this year despite Gov. Kazuo Ueda saying a hike is on the agenda, illustrating that the market has learned its lesson over the past year: Ueda is cautious when it comes to policy tightening.
"It's quite amazing that the BOJ has to use so much caution just to raise the policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25% when inflation is running above 2%," said Tohru Sasaki, chief currency strategist at Fukuoka Financial Group.
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