YEREVAN, March 7. /ARKA/. The Bank of Japan left the key discount rate invariable at 0.0-0.1%. Such decision was made unanimously, RBC reported Thursday.

Moreover, The Bank of Japan (8301) rejected a call for an immediate start to open-ended asset purchases in Governor Masaaki Shirakawa’s final meeting before a new leadership takes over at the central bank, Bloomberg agency said today.

The board voted eight-to-one against the proposal by member Sayuri Shirai, the BOJ said in a statement in Tokyo today after a two-day meeting.

Shirai’s call indicates she may already be looking ahead to the more aggressive monetary easing proposed by Haruhiko Kuroda, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pick to be the next central bank governor. Her backing may help Kuroda to secure majority support for his measures after he said this week that the central bank could buy longer-maturity bonds and bring forward the open-ended purchases, due to start next year.

The yen strengthened after the BOJ decision on the absence of extra easing. The currency traded 0.1 percent higher at 93.95 per dollar as of 3:51 p.m. in Tokyo. The yen has fallen about 12 percent in three months as Abe pledges to end deflation and revive the world’s third-biggest economy.—0-