singapore shares in japan looked set to decline at the friday open as investors await the bank of japans monetary policy decision expected later today the nikkei futures contract in chicago was at 26460 while its counterpart in osaka was at 26450 that compared against the nikkei 225s last close at 2665289 the spasx 200 in australia climbed about 03 in morning trade the bank of japan is set to announce its latest monetary policy decision at 1100 am hksin on friday though no change is expected ahead of the bojs announcement the japanese yen traded at 11850 per dollar still weaker than levels below 118 seen against the greenback earlier in the week elsewhere the us federal reserve on wednesday has approved its first interest rate hike in more than three years while the bank of england on thursday hiked rates for the third consecutive meeting us president joe biden is set to speak with chinese president xi jinping on friday with the two leaders set to discuss topics such as russias war against ukraine and competition between the two countries according to the white house