	tokyo stock plunge could force easier money policy plunging tokyo stock prices will prevent the bank of japan from raising its discount rate and could even force it to ease monetary policy if the collapse continues government and private economists said a rise in  rates now would only serve to spark further selling of shares that could ultimately have a major deflationary impact on the real economy they said although bank of japan officials have consistently maintained that they had no plans to raise the pct discount rate many in the markets have thought otherwise fears of a rise in the discount rate were fanned by the central bank s apparent decision last week to countenance higher rates on commercial bills dealers said but today s stock market collapse prices fell nearly pct means that the bank of japan would be hard pressed to raise the discount rate now despite its concerns about a renewed outbreak of inflation dealers and economists said japanese government bond prices rose sharply today as the markets concluded that the stock market s collapse precluded the central bank from carrying out the widely rumoured discount rate increase a senior government economist suggested that both the u s and japan needed to ease monetary policy now to prevent a further drop in new york and tokyo stock prices they need to support the stock and security markets he said but bank of japan officials said they saw no need to change policy for the moment although one admitted that the central bank may have to rethink its strategy if tokyo stock prices continue to plunge during the rest of the week both government and bank of japan economists agreed the economy is better placed now to cope with the deflationary impact of plunging stock prices than it was a few months ago with the economy recovering strongly the steep drop in stock prices is not likely to put a major dent in consumer and business confidence one government economist said there will be some impact on the real economy but it won t be that big said another individuals are not heavily invested in stocks on their own although they do participate through trust funds and other investment vehicles and while many manufacturing firms turned to financial market investments for profits during last year s economic downturn the recent rebound has allowed them to refocus their attention on their core businesses he said paradoxically it is the pick up in the economy that is partly to blame for the stock market collapse as companies have shifted funds away from financial investments to increase inventories and step up capital spending one government economist said in deciding what response to make to the steep stock price drop the bank of japan must first determine whether prices will continue to fall further and then decide if they pose a greater economic danger than the threat of higher inflation one central bank official said that will at least take a couple of days if not weeks he said reuter 
