Asian session review: the dollar fell against the euro, yen and pound

The yen rose against the dollar and euro after the Bank of Japan meeting. The dollar declined against the euro and the pound.

Following the results of the meeting on Monday, the Central Bank of Japan did not change the key parameters of monetary policy, keeping the interest rate on deposits of commercial banks at -0.1% per annum, and the target yield of ten-year government bonds of Japan - about zero. The Bank of Japan lifted the limit on government bond repurchases under the quantitative easing (QE) program, which was previously limited to 80 trillion yen a year, thus increasing the scale of incentives in response to the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

This week, investors are waiting for the results of the meeting of the US Federal reserve system (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB). In March, the Fed urgently lowered its benchmark interest rate to zero. Since the last meeting, the Fed has also announced that it will buy back government bonds on a virtually unlimited scale and announced a temporary easing of reserve capital requirements for major US banks.

Some investors expect that the Fed will strengthen its support for the municipal bond market, while others believe that the Fed needs to support credit markets more actively.

The ECB in March began buying bonds as part of an emergency program of 750 billion euros, designed to support the euro zone economy in the context of the crisis caused by the coronavirus. Economists expect the program to expand and possibly include high-yield bonds.