Overnight

The WSJ reported that "The Bank of Japan announced an extra dose of monetary stimulus Friday, joining fresh efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to reboot the economy.

The central bank said it would buy ¥6 trillion worth of exchange-traded funds annually, up from ¥3.3 trillion previously, in an attempt to stoke inflation and economic growth. It said it would leave its asset-purchase target at ¥80 trillion a year.
 
The monetary policy board voted approved the expansion of ETF purchases by a vote of 7-2.
The BOJ left unchanged its purchases of Japanese government bonds, which comprise the bulk of its asset buying, underscoring concerns about whether the program would be sustainable if JGB buying were expanded. It already owns more than a third of all outstanding JGBs, with its balance sheet ballooning to 85% of gross domestic product as of May.

The central bank also left a key interest rate on bank reserves unchanged at minus 0.1%. It dropped the rate into negative territory in February to drive yields lower and spur lending and investment, but the move delivered limited results while provoking a backlash from banks and the Japanese public."

As Asian shares hit a one-year high overnight and the yen touch a two-week high as they waited for the BOJ's announcement, but as reported: Japan shares whipsawed and the yen surged after the Bank of Japan threw markets a smaller-than-expected bone in keenly watched decision on Friday. While the BOJ eased its monetary policy further by increasing its buying of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), it didn't change interest rates or increase the monetary base. 
 
Reuters reported the BOJ will increase its ETF buying so that its holdings rise at an annual pace of 6 trillion yen, compared with 3.3 trillion yen previously. The BOJ left its base money target unchanged, said Reuters. The Japanese yen surged against the dollar after the announcement, with the dollar/yen pair falling as low as 102.85, compared with around 103.75 immediately before the decision. The yen was already volatile before the announcement, touching a session high of 105.33.

 The Nikkei 225 traded between gains and losses after the decision, tumbling as much as 1.66 percent immediately after the announcement, before quickly retracing all of its losses to trade up 0.16 percent.On  other markets, Australia, South Korea and China traded mostly flat after the BOJ announcement while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.82 percent. Owing to concerns  about oversupply, oil prices fell to three-month lows, with U.S. benchmark now down more than 20 percent from this year's peak.