Nikkei soars as BoJ shocks market with new stimulus

Japanese stocks have rallied to their highest level since November 2007 and the yen has plummeted after the Bank of Japan shocked the market with unexpected new stimulus measures.

The central bank will increase the pace at which it expands base money to 80 trillion yen (£454bn) a year, instead of 60-70 trillion yen. It also intends to triple its purchase of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs), and extend the duration of its portfolio of Japanese government bonds. These unexpected steps are intended as a pre-emptive move to boost inflation in an effort to reach the bank's 2% inflation target by April 2015. Data released earlier on Friday showed Japan's annual core consumer inflation slowed for a second month in a row in Septemb...