TOKYO: The dollar fell against the yen Wednesday as the Bank of Japan held off further easing measures after a two-day policy meeting.
The US unit stood at 119.91 yen in late afternoon trade after the decision was announced, compared with 120.32 in New York.
The euro changed hands at 130.29 yen from 130.11 yen in New York while edging up to $1.0863 from $1.0813.
While the central bank had been widely expected to stay pat on Wednesday, economists said Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will have to expand his easing measures sooner or later if he is to move Japan closer to his target of achieving stable 2.0 percent inflation.
"If Governor Kuroda is about to embark on an upshift in easing, it would more likely be the 30th of April, when they have an updated set of forecasts to be able to work from," said Raiko Shareef, a markets strategist in Wellington at Bank of New Zealand.
"There's been some pretty appreciable slowing in the Japanese economy, especially inflation numbers," he told Bloomberg News.
Economists and businesses have began to voice increasing worries about the Japanese economy as the impact of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's stimulus packages fades and factory output slows.
The BoJ's closely watched Tankan report, released last week, showed that confidence among big manufacturers was plateauing.
The dollar was mostly higher against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It rose to Sg$1.3564 from Sg$1.3559 on Tuesday, to 1,090.97 South Korean won from 1,088.89 won and to Tw$31.07 from Tw$30.97
It also gained to 32.54 Thai baht from 32.50 baht and to 62.30 Indian rupees from 62.29 rupees.
But the dollar eased to 12,972.50 Indonesian rupiah from 12,982.50 rupiah and to 44.47 Philippine pesos from 44.52 pesos.
The Australian dollar bought 76.96 US cents, up from 76.90 cents, while the Chinese yuan was 19.34 yen, up from 19.30 yen.
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