The Nikkei closed up 4.83%, hitting a seven-year high after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) unexpectedly announced it was expanding its monetary easing policy Friday morning.
In a tight vote, the BoJ backed an 80 trillion yen ($720 billion) target for expanding the monetary base (a measure of the amount of money held by the central bank and in the economy). That's up from a previous target of 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen.
Analysts were basically not expecting anything Friday: this one was a genuine surprise. Just as the Fed this week announced the final tapering of QE3 (in which the monthly bond purchases the Fed had been making were stopped), the Bank of Japan is hitting the gas.
REUTERS/Toru HanaiBank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda caught the markets by surprise Friday.
