VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Asian shares steadied near seven-year highs on Thursday, underpinned by hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine, although a cautious mood prevailed for now ahead of a European Central Bank meeting later in the session.

The Bank of Japan will maintain its existing stimulus policy and optimistic economic view on when it meets on Thursday, sources say, preferring to take more time to gauge whether a run of weak data is sufficient to threaten a fragile recovery.

Asian shares balked at the starting gate on Monday, skittish in the face of a deepening Ukraine crisis, while the euro touched a fresh one-year low ahead of this week's European Central Bank meeting.

The dollar marched higher against the euro and yen on Monday as investors wagered that interest rates were set on a diverging course in the United States, Europe and Japan, giving a lift to Tokyo stocks in the process.

Government Pension Investment Fund president Takahiro Mitani's comments about Bank of Japan meeting its 2% infaltion goal was contradictory to the statements made by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointee and economist Takatoshi Ito.

Because Japan's central bank absorbs JPY7 trillion worth of debt, primary dealers of Japanese government bonds are not concerned over plans of Government Pension Investment Fund to reduce its government debt holding.

This is a summary of key economic events and central bank speeches, likely to affect the global economy through the foreign exchange, equity and debt markets.

BOJ raised gross domestic product to 1.5% but stopped short of projecting a potential 2% inflation within 2 years.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) would most likely hold on to its present monetary policy as the Japanese economy shows signs of improvement, sources told Reuters.

Japan was a winner when it came to how its stocks performed on the market.

Bank of Japan was optimistic about the country's economic recovery.

Bank of Japan bought US$9.5 billion Japanese government bonds.

Bank of Japan sets purchase ceiling of 140 billion yen for J-REITS.

The Bank of Japan's decision to maintain its monetary policy weakened the performance of US stocks.

The Bank of Japan's decision to remain unchanged in its monetary policies resulted in the falling of European government bonds and the increase of borrowing costs for all European sovereigns.