BOJ's Kuroda says no signs of excesses building in markets

By Leika Kihara

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday he did not see any signs of bubbles or excesses building up in U.S., European and Japanese markets as a result of heavy money printing by their central banks.

Kuroda also dismissed some analysts' criticism that the BOJ's purchases of exchange-traded funds (ETF) were distorting financial markets or dominating Japan's stock market.

"I don't think we have a very big share" of Japan's total stock market capitalisation, he told reporters after attending the Group of 20 finance leaders' gathering.

The International Monetary Fund painted a rosy picture of the global economy in its World Economic Outlook earlier this week, but warned that prolonged easy monetary policy could be sowing the seeds of excessive risk-taking.

 

Kuroda said that while policymakers should not be complacent about their economies, he did not see huge risks materializing as a result of their policies.

Although major central banks deployed massive stimulus programmes to battle the global financial crisis, they have always scrutinized whether their policies were causing excessive risk-taking, he said.

"I don't think we're seeing excesses building up and emerging as a big risk," Kuroda said, adding that recent rises in global stock prices reflected strong corporate profits in Japan, the United States and Europe.

He added that Japan's economy was on track for a steady recovery that will likely gradually push up inflation and wages.

"I don't see any big risk for Japan's economy. But there could be external risks, such as geopolitical ones, so we're watching developments carefully," he said.

A senior Japanese finance ministry official said currency rate moves were not discussed at the G20 meeting or a gathering of G7 finance leaders held on the sidelines.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Paul Simao)