BOJ chief surprises with dovish remarks, trimming odds of January hike

TOKYO -- The Bank of Japan's chief voiced little concern about the weak yen and did not indicate any urgency to tighten monetary policy at a media briefing on Thursday, further dampening expectations of an imminent increase in the nation's key interest rate after standing pat earlier in the day.

The yen is nearing levels where Japan intervened in the foreign exchange market in the April to May period to shore up the currency against the dollar. But BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda appeared to shrug off such concerns on Thursday, saying that "import inflation is relatively stable on a year-on-year basis."