BOJ's Noguchi says biggest focus is if wage rise momentum will be sustained or not

<p>Bank of Japan policy board member Noguchi:</p><ul><li>
Biggest focus is whether wage hike momentum will be maintained or not</li><li>Raising of YCC
allowance band does not signify a tightening of monetary policy</li><li>If central banks
hold rate hikes and inflation comes down, the risk of hard landing
will be reduced</li><li>Japan's economy
recovering gradually</li><li>When inflation
expectations are in a stage of rising, some flexibility is needed to
continue easy policy under YCC</li><li>Chinese economy
facing risk of deflation or 'Japanisation'</li></ul><ul><li>
Need to pay close attention to fiscal, monetary policy response to
low inflation by Chinese authorities from now on</li><li>There are signs of
upward price pressures coming down</li><li>BOJ's near-term
mission is to realise a situation where wage growth does not fall
short of inflation as soon as possible through persistent monetary
easing</li><li>The trend of passing
on costs for raw materials is widely continuing</li><li>Japan needs to shake
off the 'zero norm' of prices and wages in order for nominal wage
increase to exceed 2% as a trend</li><li>3% nominal wage
growth would correspond with 2％
inflation target</li></ul><p>USD/JPY is barely moving. Waiting on the US CPI tonight is the theme for the day today.</p>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.