ME News message, December 19 (UTC+8), Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold a press conference around 3:30 PM local time (2:30 PM Beijing time) to further elaborate on the considerations behind this decision and the future interest rate path. The market generally expects that the Bank of Japan will continue to raise interest rates in a gradual, predictable, and data-dependent manner, rather than aggressively tightening. In addition, after the announcement of this interest rate hike decision, the yen briefly strengthened against the dollar but then fell back, dipping below the 156 mark during the day, down 0.3% for the day. Market reactions indicate that this interest rate hike has been fully absorbed by investors, confirming the central bank's assessment—that the current interest rate adjustments are still insufficient to change the accommodative tone, resembling more of a part of 'gradual normalization'. (Source: ME)