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By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) - The yen weakened and

Japanese government bond yields fell after the Bank of Japan on

Tuesday announced an exit from years of ultra-easy monetary

policies, marking an historic shift from a decades-long fight

against deflation.

The Nikkei share average rose, reversing morning losses,

following volatile trading immediately after the central bank

said it was ending its negative interest rates policy and yield

curve control (YCC), as well as dropping purchases of risky

assets, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The decision was widely expected after local and

international media, including Reuters, had reported over the

past week of a likely end to most or all of the BOJ's stimulus

programmes at this policy meeting.

That resulted in 'sell-the-fact' trade in Japanese markets,

analysts said.

The yen, in particular, appeared to have fallen victim to

that, with domestic rates still also extremely low compared with

the United States. The dollar jumped 0.84% to 150.385 yen

as of 0604 GMT.

The Nikkei finished the day up 0.66% at 40,003.60,

recovering the psychological 40,000 mark for the first time

since hitting an all-time high at 40,472.11 on March 7.

The 10-year JGB yield lost 3 basis points to

0.725%.

Some dovish undertones in the BOJ's policy decision will

keep bond yields under pressure, said Shoki Omori, chief Japan

desk strategist at Mizuho Securities.

"Bond purchase amounts basically stay the same, which means

the BOJ isn't taking a hawkish stance," cheering investors such

as life insurers who need to buy bonds into Japan's fiscal

year-end this month, he said.

Omori also expects the yen to continue to fall.

"The yen remains a funding currency and is likely to keep

being utilized for carry trades," he said.

Tuesday's policy shift ushered in the first rate hike in

Japan since 2007, but it still keeps rates stuck around zero.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Ueda will explain the policy decision

in a press conference scheduled for 0630 GMT.

In its policy statement, the bank said it will continue its

JGB purchases at broadly the same amount as before, although it

will scale back the maximum limit of its purchases.

The BOJ's move to end its radical stimulus policies was in

part helped by the biggest wage hikes in 33 years at annual

negotiations with unions. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said

on Friday that Japan had emerged from decades of deflation.

A positive spiral of price hikes and wage increases as well

as solid earnings drove a 19% surge in the Nikkei this year, far

outpacing a 6.6% rise for the MSCI World Index.

"For the time being, I expect equity prices to increase,

with the uncertainty gone surrounding the meeting," said

Norihiro Yamaguchi, senior economist at Oxford Economics in

Tokyo.