Giving explicit advance signals, in addition to making the Bank of Japan feel boxed in, could breach Japanese law stipulating the nine-member board must debate and sign off on rate decisions at each policy meeting.

In currencies, the dollar jumped 0.3% against the Chinese yuan in offshore trading, and rallied 0.4% versus the Aussie and 0.5% versus the New Zealand dollar, with the antipodean currencies tending to act as more liquid proxies for China's currency due to close trade ties.

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The return of inflation and wage growth is giving the Bank of Japan room to raise interest rates and declare the end of a long period of stagnation.

Japan's central bank has raised its key interest rate to about 0.5% from 0.25%, noting that inflation is holding at a desirable target level.

About 85.7% of Japanese households expect prices to rise a year from now, a quarterly central bank survey in December showed on Friday, roughly unchanged from 85.6% in the previous poll in September.

The Nikkei stock index snapped a five-day losing streak Thursday on optimism over the U.S. economy as hopes grew for further interest

Asian stocks are mixed after Wall Street’s mostly positive performance ahead of key U.S. inflation data that could influence the pace of the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts

Tokyo, Jan 24 (AP) The Bank of Japan raised its key interest rate to about 0.5% from 0.25% Friday, noting that inflation is holding at a desirable target level. The decision by the central bank came at the end of a two-day policy board meeting in Tokyo.

Shares are mixed in Asia after U.S. stocks edged back from their all-time high, with many regional markets closed for lunar new year holidays.

An interest-rate decision by the Bank of Canada is due Wednesday, on the same day as the U.S. Fed's decision. A 25 basis-point rate cut is widely expected, although the pace of rate reductions is expected to slow markedly compared with last year.

Japan's central bank raised interest rates to their highest since the 2008 global financial crisis and revised up its inflation forecasts.