Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank will debate next week whether to raise interest rates, based on its fresh quarterly growth and inflation forecasts.

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said at an event on Wednesday that the BOJ will raise rates next week if economic indicators show improvement. He added that he is aware of "many positive stories" of higher wages.

Following Ueda’s remarks, the yen strengthened as much as 0.4% to ¥157.34 against the dollar, after earlier hovering around the ¥158 level.