Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda reinforced the central bank’s tightening bias, signalling that further rate hikes remain likely if incoming data strengthen confidence in the Bank’s economic and inflation forecasts. In comments reported by Yomiuri, Ueda said the BoJ’s “basic stance” is to continue raising interest rates if the probability of its growth and price projections materialising increases. While underlying inflation has yet to fully reach the 2% target, policy will be guided to ensure it converges sustainably to around that level without overshooting on a persistent basis. Ueda added that the Bank does not ... (full story)