AUD/JPY holds positive ground near 92.00 as BoJ keeps rate steady amid tariff uncertainty

• AUD/JPY gathers strength to around 91.90 in Thursday's Asian session. 
• BoJ kept interest rates steady at its May meeting, as widely anticipated. 
• Australia's Trade Surplus climbs to 6,900M MoM in March, besting estimation.

The AUD/JPY cross gains traction to near 91.90 during the Asian trading hours on Thursday. The Japanese Yen (JPY) trades slightly weaker against the Aussie after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) decided to keep its policy rate unchanged at its May meeting on Thursday. The attention will shift to the BoJ Press Conference later on Thursday. 

The BoJ board members decided to leave the short-term interest rate target unchanged in the range of 0.40%-0.50% on Thursday, as widely expected. The Japanese central bank noted in the statement that the economy is likely to slow as trade policy impact slows global growth. 

The BoJ noted that it's important to carefully monitor factors such as developments in economic activity, and the central bank will continue to raise the policy rate if the economy and prices move in line with its forecast. Market players will closely monitor the press conference by BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda, which might offer some hints about the interest rate path in Japan. 

On the Aussie front, the upbeat Australian March Trade Balance data could boost the AUD against the JPY. The country's trade surplus rose to 6,900M MoM in March, compared to the expectation of 3,130M and the previous reading of 2,852M (revised from 2,968M), the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday. The strong surplus was driven by a 7.6% rise in Exports and a fall of 2.2% in Imports for the month.