BOJ to keep -0.1 percent interest rate, 10-year JGB yield target unchanged next week: Reuters poll

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is expected to keep its negative interest rates and 10-year government bond yield target unchanged next week after overhauling its policy focus last month, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.

The BOJ is expected to retain the minus 0.1 percent interest rate it imposes on some excess reserves that commercial banks park with the central bank, the poll of 15 analysts found. They forecast the BOJ would also keep its 10-year JGB yield target of around zero percent unchanged.

The poll also showed analysts expect the BOJ to maintain the net amount of Japanese government bonds it buys annually at around 80 trillion yen ($760.96 billion).

"Weak consumer prices and an expected downgrade in the BOJ's price projection could be factors for the central bank to ease policy further," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. "But there is little chance for the BOJ will do so next week as markets are stable."

The yen was trading around a three-month low against the dollar on growing expectations that the U.S. will raise interest rates this year, giving the BOJ some respite, analysts say.

In September, the BOJ switched to a policy of targeting interest rates rather than the pace of its money printing, after years of massive asset purchases failed to jolt the economy out of stagnation.

In a quarterly evaluation of its forecasts due at next week's policy meeting, the central bank will cut next fiscal year's inflation forecast slightly, reflecting weak consumption and falling import costs from a strong yen, sources have told Reuters.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Eric Meijer)