Bank of Japan to Start Unwinding Its Massive ETF Stockpile

The Bank of Japan delivered a surprise for investors even as it kept the most important tool — the policy rate — unchanged at 0.5% as expected.

Stocks slipped after the BOJ unveiled a plan to start selling its massive stockpile of ETFs, valued at more than 75 trillion yen ($508 billion). The central bank became the single biggest holder of Japanese stocks around 2020 during its massive monetary easing program. While it would take more than a century to offload ETFs at the pace suggested by BOJ, the message toward policy normalization was clear.