American focus: The dollar weakened against the euro

The yen climbed versus all of its 16 most-traded peers amid speculation a decision tomorrow by the Bank of Japan will signal its monetary-easing efforts will fall short of its goals and fail to reignite inflation. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday the BOJ may fail to achieve its target of boosting inflation to 2 percent. The Bank of Japan will say tomorrow after a two-day meeting it will boost monthly bond purchases by about 50 percent to 5.2 trillion yen ($56 billion), according to the average forecast in a survey of economists.

The BOJ’s new governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, has indicated that expanded purchases of government bonds will be the main tool for easing. He has said the bank will consider combining monthly purchases and an asset-purchase fund, as well as buying more debt with longer maturities. Kuroda, who has given himself two years to do “whatever it takes” to end deflation, is running his first policy meeting.

The dollar weakened against the euro as a gauge of U.S. service industries dropped more than forecast. The greenback extended losses against the euro and yen after the Institute for Supply Management’s index of U.S. non- manufacturing businesses, which covers almost 90 percent of the economy, fell to 54.4 in March from 56 in the prior month. The median forecast of 73 economists was 55.5. Readings above 50 signal expansion.

The European Central Bank’s Governing Council meets tomorrow to decide on interest rates. Of 56 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, 54 expect the ECB to keep its key rate at a record-low 0.75 percent, while two predict a cut.

The pound gained from a two-week low on bets the Bank of England won’t extend monetary-stimulus tomorrow. The pound strengthened against the dollar amid speculation the Bank of England will refrain at its meeting tomorrow from extending stimulus measures that tend to devalue the currency. Central-bank policy makers will maintain their asset-purchase target at 375 billion pounds ($568 billion), according to economists surveyed.