Roundup: Bank of Japan's rate hike draws wide market attention

TOKYO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan's central bank concluded its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday with decision to raise policy rate and cut back on government bond purchases, considered as a big step to shift monetary easing and closely watched by the market.

The rise to 0.25 percent from the previous range of zero to 0.1 percent marked the first rate hike since the Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended its negative intere