Mumbai, Jan. 23 -- The Japanese Yen (JPY) remains depressed near the weekly low against its American counterpart following the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) widely expected decision to leave short term rate on hold. The USD/JPY cpunter is quoting at 158.7 per dollar on Friday. The Bank of Japan retained its key interest rate, as widely expected, and raised its economic growth outlook on Friday. The policy board, headed by Ueda Kazuo, voted 8-1 to hold the uncollateralized overnight call rate at around 0.75 percent. Previously, the bank had raised its rate by 25 basis points in December, taking it to the highest since 1995.

In the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report, the bank said, "Japan's economy is likely to continue growing modera...