Forex - USD/JPY near 1-week lows as BoJ maintains monetary policy

The U.S. dollar fell to one-week lows against the yen on Friday, after the Bank of Japan maintained its monetary policy without outlining any additional measures to meet its inflation target. 

USD/JPY hit 98.23 during early European trade, the pair's lowest since April 19; the pair subsequently consolidated at 98.78, declining 0.50%. 

The pair was likely to find support at 97.63, the low of April 18 and resistance at 99.55, Thursday's high. 

In a statement following its April 4 meeting, the BoJ reiterated its commitment to enlarge the monetary base by JPY60 trillion to JPY70 trillion a year. 

The central bank also predicted inflation will almost match its target in two years. 

Earlier Friday, official data showed that the Tokyo core consumer price index fell by an annualized rate of 0.3% in April, after a 0.5% decline the previous month, compared to expectations for a 0.4% slip. 

Separately, demand for the safe haven yen was also supported by speculation over a possible rate cut by the European Central Bank after Goldman Sachs on Thursday said it now expects the ECB to cut rates by 0.25% at next week's policy meeting.

The investment bank also revised down its euro zone growth forecast for 2013 to minus 0.7% from minus 0.5% previously. 

The yen was higher against the euro with EUR/JPY declining 0.41%, to hit 128.62. 

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release preliminary data on first quarter growth, followed by revised data from the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.