Tokyo - Japan's central bank decided to forego an interest rate hike at the end of a two-day meeting Wednesday.

The Bank of Japan's policy board voted unanimously to keep the short-term interest rate unchanged at 0.1 per cent as was widely expected.

The bank also decided to extend its yen-dollar swap operations for three months past October 30.

The bank plans to extend emergency steps of buying corporate bonds and commercial paper from financial institutions and a special loan programme until December 31, instead of September 30. (dpa)