BoJ leaves monetary policy unchanged

Despite recent weak data for the Japanese economy, the Bank of Japan left monetary policy unchanged at its policy meeting on Tuesday.

“Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately, and a front-loaded increase in demand prior to the consumption tax hike has been observed,” the BoJ said in a statement.

Elsewhere, economic data on Tuesday were mostly positive.

In Germany, exports rose 2.2 percent in January while imports jumped 4.1 percent.

In the UK, manufacturing production rose 0.4 percent in January. However, overall industrial output rose only 0.1 percent, dragged down by a 5.8 percent fall in oil and gas extraction due to bad weather.