The Bank of Japan, after clearly signalling last week's interest rate hike, may return to its accustomed fuzzy guidance about central bank policy to maintain flexibility when it eventually begins to consider how much tightening is enough.

The Bank of Japan raised interest rates on Friday to their highest since the 2008 global financial crisis and revised up its inflation forecasts, underscoring its confidence that rising wages will keep inflation stable around its 2% target.

The Bank of Japan has raised short-term interest rates by a quarter point, the highest in 17 years, signalling efforts to normalise monetary policy in response to persistent inflation and increasing wages.

The BOJ fumbled its communication in December, surprising investors, but then telegraphed Friday's increase so unambiguously that the rate hike was 90% priced in.

The yen and Swiss franc jumped against major currencies on Monday in a rush for safe-haven assets as tech stocks plunged, with investors weighing the implications of a Chinese startup launching a free open-source artificial intelligence model.

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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Global economic policymakers had been braced for an economic firestorm from the new U.S. administration but instead got a surprisingly restrained start from Donald Trump, who remains big on rhetoric but more cautious on action - for now.

Giving explicit advance signals, in addition to making the Bank of Japan feel boxed in, could breach Japanese law stipulating the nine-member board must debate and sign off on rate decisions at each policy meeting.

Moody's Analytics Stefan Angrick explains that imported inflation has been stickier-than-anticipated contributing to the Bank of Japan's moderate rate hike pace.

Japan's central bank has raised its key interest rate to about 0.5% from 0.25%, noting that inflation is holding at a desirable target level.

The Bank of Japan delivered a widely expected 25 basis point hike to its key lending rate on Friday, bringing the overnight call rate to the highest since 2008 and putting pressure on the dollar. The ICE Dollar Index slipped 0.