: Japanese yen climbs on reports that economist will become next BOJ head

The Japanese yen surged by nearly 0.8% against the dollar on Friday, after a report in the Nikkei financial newspaper reported an academic was to be appointed for the top job at the Bank of Japan.In an unexpected move, the central bank plans to appoint economist and former BOJ policy board member Kazuo Ueda to replace Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, the Nikkei reported, citing sources. The publication said Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Masayoshi Amamiya had been considered as a possible successor to Kuroda but he firmly refused the job.Shinichi Uchida, BOJ executive director, and Ryozo Himino, former chief of the Financial Services Agency, are expected to be appointed to deputy governor posts. Bloomberg pointed out that when candidate names have been leaked to the press in the past, the BOJ has ended up going with other candidates.The Japanese yen climbed to 130.46 against the dollar, up 0.8% on the day as markets weighed up the possibility of a surprise nomination to the BOJ head. Deputy Gov. Amamiya said Friday that there was no pressing need to tweak yield curve control policy again and more time was needed to assess the bank’s December decision to raise a cap on the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to 0.5% from 0.25%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.