Japanse beurs valt terug

The U.S. dollar fell against the yen and Japanese stocks sagged after the Bank of Japan held off from taking fresh steps to curb bond market volatility, while Asian shares hit 2013 lows amid worries over slowing growth in China and continued uncertainty on how long the U.S. stimulus will remain in place.

European stock markets are likely to follow suit, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 .FTSE, Paris's CAC-40 .FCHI and Frankfurt's DAX .GDAXI will open down 0.4 percent. A 0.1 percent drop in U.S. stock futures also pointed to a cautious Wall Street start. .L.EU.N

The BOJ kept monetary policy steady and refrained from taking new measures to calm bond market turbulence, possibly judging that the recent market turbulence has yet to pose severe damage to the economy's recovery prospects.