(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-19 13:38

TWO DEPUTIES, NO SHERIFF

Parliament last week approved Shirakawa as deputy governor, and on Wednesday it approved a second deputy governor - current BOJ board member Kiyohiko Nishimura.

Underlying the succession crisis is a rapidly weakening US economy, which prompted the Fed to slash interest rates by 0.75 percentage point on Tuesday, with Wall Street expecting more to come.

Conditions are also worsening in Japan, where the Reuters Tankan, a monthly survey of business sentiment, on Wednesday hit a four-year low among manufacturers.

"As some in the market doubt if the BOJ could take such swift action if its top post is left vacant, a new governor must be decided as soon as possible in view of uncertainties over the economic outlook," said Tatsushi Shikano, a senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

The big Fed rate cut sent the dollar soaring to its biggest one-day rise against the yen in nine years, taking it back toward 100 yen from a 13-year low below 96 yen seen on Monday.

Japanese stocks jumped 2.4 percent after the Fed cut sent Wall Street stocks to their biggest one-day gain in five years.

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