GBP/JPY rises to near 192.00 after BoJ's Ueda speech

• GBP/JPY drifts higher to around 191.95 in Thursday's early European session. 
• BoJ's Ueda said uncertainty stems from trade policies.
• Traders raise their bets that the BoE will cut its interest rates by 25 bps in the May meeting. 

The GBP/JPY cross gains ground to near 191.95 during the early European session on Thursday. The Japanese Yen (JPY) softens against the Pound Sterling (GBP) after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) kept interest rates steady and slashed its growth forecasts on Thursday. 

As widely expected, the BoJ board member decided to keep the short-term policy rate unchanged in the range of 0.40%-0.50% by a unanimous vote at its May meeting on Thursday. BoJ noted in the statement that the economy is likely to slow as trade policy impact slows global growth. 

BoJ Governor  Kazuo Ueda said during the press conference that Japan's economy is recovering moderately, however, some weakness is still there. Ueda further stated that economic and price projections depend on how countries deal with US tariffs, and the central bank is expected to keep raising rates if the economy and prices move in line with projections.

On the GBP's front, traders have become increasingly confident that the Bank of England (BoE) will cut its interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) in the May meeting. This, in turn, might drag the GBP lower against the shared currency. Financial markets have priced in nearly a 96% possibility that the BoE will cut its rate by a quarter-point to 4.25% when it announces its next move on May 8, according to a Reuters poll.