Markets mixed as BoJ leaves monetary policy unchanged

Markets were mixed on Friday.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 percent but the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2 percent.

Markets elsewhere were more positive. The STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.7 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent.

Early on Friday, the Bank of Japan concluded its meeting by keeping monetary policy steady and upgrading its assessment of private consumption for the first time in six months.

Kuroda told a news conference that there is “some distance to achieving 2 percent inflation” and that the BoJ will debate an exit from its ultra-loose monetary policy only after that is achieved.