Yen surges, Nikkei plunges as BOJ decision surprises markets

The yen sharply rose and Tokyo stocks plunged Tuesday as market participants were surprised by a Bank of Japan decision that they saw as monetary tightening following a decade of ultraloose policy under the current governor. The Japanese currency strengthened by around 4 yen versus the U.S. dollar to trade at the lower 133 level and the benchmark Nikkei stock index briefly fell nearly 3 percent, shortly after the central bank decided to allow long-term government bond yields to trade in a wider range. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 669.61 points, or 2.46 percent, from Monday at ...