Noda meets BOJ's governor on monetary easing steps

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with the Governor of the Bank of Japan Masaaki Shirakawa Wednesday morning, possibly on the central bank's money easing decision the previous day, local press reported. Shirakawa said he exchanged views in a frank manner with the prime minister, but refused to give any details about their talk, according to local media. Shirakawa is likely to be briefed on the central bank's decision on Tuesday to introduce a de facto inflation target and further ease monetary policy. The BOJ announced on Tuesday it would further implement its monetary easing program and expand its asset purchase program by buying additional 10 trillion yen government bonds from financial institutions . Nikkei opened high on Wednesday morning on weakening yen. Market was lifted as investors expect the yen will continue to weaken after the Bank of Japan decided to implement additional monetary-easing steps. The U.S. dollar traded near its highest level since Nov. 1 in the mid-78 yen range early Wednesday.