Morning Bid: BOJ struggling to keep pace with hiking partners

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook

The Bank of Japan raised interest rates, as expected, though it knocked the yen by sounding a fraction less hawkish than its peers.

Significantly, the hike, coming just three months after it last raised rates, breaks a pattern of twice-yearly rate rises.

It's just that the BOJ has been tightening policy so slowly that the rest of the world has caught up and then some, and even Friday's decision came with two dovish dissents.

Nearly three more US interest rate hikes are priced in by the middle of next year, with similar expectations for Europe and Britain. Another two are anticipated for Japan.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's news conference will be closely watched for whether he can hold those expectations.

Another two hikes are priced for Australia, though its rates are already the highest in the G10. On Friday, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock warned some of the upside risks to inflation appeared to be materialising.

Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh strikes across their border on Thursday and Yemenis took to boats in the Red Sea to escape fighting, as the spreading Middle East war created new threats to global oil supplies.

Hope that traders will find new routes to market kept a lid on further rises in crude prices, leaving them hovering just above $100 a barrel and up nearly 15% so far this month.

China has privately asked Tehran to help rein in Yemen's Houthis after an appeal to Beijing by Saudi Arabia following the Iran-backed group's military blitz in the past week, according to three Iranian sources familiar with the matter.

Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets were fairly steady thanks to a positive lead from Wall Street, as markets seemed relieved that the Fed was getting serious about dampening inflation.

Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:

- BOJ Ueda news conference

- UK retail sales, US industrial production

- Fed's Bowman and Schmid speak

(Editing by Jamie Freed)