TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Wednesday and revised up its assessment on capital expenditure, signalling its confidence that its aggressive monetary stimulus is helping broaden a recovery in the world's third-largest economy.
As expected, the central bank voted unanimously to maintain its pledge of increasing base money, its key policy gauge, at an annual pace of 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen (351-410 billion pounds).
"Capital expenditure has increased moderately as corporate profits have improved," the central bank said in a statement announcing the policy decision. It kept its view on the economy unchanged to say it continues to recover moderately as a trend.
BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will hold a news conference from 3:30 p.m. (0730 BST).
The BOJ has stood pat since launching an intense burst of stimulus last April, when it pledged to accelerate inflation to 2 percent in roughly two years via aggressive asset purchases in a country mired in deflation for 15 years.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Stanley White; Editing by Edmund Klamann)