U.S. dollar falls after Fed decision; BOJ keeps monetary policy steady

The U.S. dollar fell on Thursday in Asia after the Federal Reserve signalled it was prepared to lower interest rates as uncertainties in its growth outlook have increased.

The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was down 0.2% to 96.385 by 11:26 PM ET (03:26 GMT).

The Federal Open Market Committee kept the fed funds rate in a range of 2.25% to 2.5% as expected.

The central bank ditched “patient” from its policy language and said it would “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion.

“The Committee continues to view sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near the Committee’s symmetric 2% objective as the most likely outcomes, but uncertainties about this outlook have increased,” the Fed said.

“The main question is no longer if the Fed will cut rates in July, but whether the easing will be by 25 or 50 basis points,” said Daisuke Karakama, chief market economist at Mizuho Bank, in a Reuters report.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady. The central bank maintained its short-term rate target at -0.1% as expected.

“Downside risks regarding overseas economies are big, so we must carefully watch how they affect Japan’s corporate and household sentiment,” the BOJ said in a statement.

The USD/JPY was down 0.4% to 107.60 following the release of the statement.

The NZD/USD pair gained 0.6% to 0.6573.

Data showed today that New Zealand’s GDP growth for the quarter ended March was at 0.6%, in line with expectations. However, some said underlying weakness in the housing market and immigration added to the rising external pressure on the economy.

The AUD/USD pair rose 0.2% to 0.6894.