Japanese stocks rise and the yen falls as the central bank maintains an ultra-loose policy

Japan’s Nikkei rose and the yen fell on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan kept its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged and offered no hints of an early end to negative interest rates.

The Nikkei rose 1.41 percent to end Tuesday at 33,219.39. The broader Topix index compensated for an early loss of 0.21 percent, closing up 0.73 percent.

The yen fell to 143.78 to the dollar following the central bank’s announcement, and was traded in the latest transactions down about 0.5 percent to 143.50.

The Bank of Japan kept its target for the short-term interest rate at minus 0.1 percent and for the 10-year government bond yield at around 0 percent, in line with expectations.

Technology stocks continued their gains, with shares of Tokyo Electron, a giant for chip testing equipment, jumping 3.67 percent, and shares of Advantest, a manufacturer of chip testing machines, advancing 4.1 percent.

Shares of automakers rose, as a weak yen boosted expectations for revenues from abroad.

Toyota Motor rose 0.8 percent and Nissan rose 0.95 percent.

Banks were among the worst performers, as the stimulus that suppressed returns and crushed lending and investment profits ended. The banking services sub-index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 0.43 percent.