Tokyo — Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a surprise deterioration in German and South Korean economic data rekindled fears of slowing global growth, while oil prices pulled back slightly after a sharp run-up earlier in the week. The Japanese yen weakened marginally to near 112 a dollar after the Bank of Japan kept policy unchanged at a review on Thursday but pledged to keep interest rates very low at least until early 2020. It had previously merely said it would keep current extremely low levels of rates for an extended period of time. The Bank of Japan also said it would explore lending exchange traded funds to the market. The euro steadied after slumping to a 22-month low of $1.114 to the US dollar overnight, driven by a drop in German business confidence that highlighted the divergence between data in the eurozone and the US. Data showing the South Korean economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter of the year also fuelled worries about the dual-speed nature of the gl...
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