Japan becomes the last country to ditch negative interest rates

05:49

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Asia Pacific

Japan becomes the last country to ditch negative interest rates

Asia-Pacific markets are largely falling on Tuesday as investors assess central bank monetary policy decisions from the Bank of Japan. The BOJ officially ended its negative interest rate policy at its March meeting, hiking interest rates for the first time in 17 years. The Bank raised its benchmark interest rate from -0.1% to a range of 0% to 0.1%. It also abolished its yield curve control policy, marking a historic shift in policy. Japan's Nikkei 225 has been volatile following that news, reversing declines before plunging again, and was trading nearly 0.2% higher at midday trading. The broader Topix INDEX was up 0.19%.