Session Recap: BoJ beats expectations; Yen resumes bear moves

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The main theme in Asia, while it occurred very late, was the more aggressive-than-expected BoJ monetary policy decision, with the central bank over-delivering on its commitment to beat inflation.

The BoJ plans to double its monetary base, expand asset purchases both thru JGBs and ETFs, BOJ will buy over 7 trillion yen worth of bonds each month, while also making the option of buying JGBs eligible to up to 40 years. More details here.

The Australian Dolalr was also the beneficiary of heavy inflows after Australia published the strongest retail sales since November 2009. On the contrary, Gold had another session to forget, making new lows at $1,541.00.

The rest of currencies, including the Euro , Pound and the US Dollar await announcements from central banks later today, with the latter also eying the NFP data from Friday.

Main headlines in Asia

- Nth. Korea ‘formally informs’ US it has ‘ratified’ strike against the US

- USD/JPY - buyers protecting 92.40/75 demand ahead of BoJ

- Australia: AiG Performance of Services Index (Mar): 49.6 vs 48.5

- BoJ enters a far more testing phase today - HSBC

- USD/JPY, big imbalances btw specs and commercials ahead of BoJ

- Australian retail sales strongest in more than 3 years

- AUD/USD higher on better data than expected

- AUD/USD: Plenty of offers ahead of 1.0500

- North Korea maintains its ban on entry into Kaesong industrial zone

- More on North Korea closing the industrial park

Gold to fresh 10-month lows sub $1550

- BoJ more aggressive than sky-high-expectation