BOJ Pledges Support on Japan Quake as Toyota Halts Output

Japan’s central bank pledged to ensure financial stability after the nation’s strongest earthquake on record forced Toyota Motor Corp. to shut some plants, shut down oil refineries and sparked a plunge in stocks.

Yesterday’s magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck off the coast of Sendai, a city of 1 million in the northeast, unleashed a tsunami as high as 10 meters (33 feet) that engulfed towns along the coast. More than 500 people have been reported killed. The Tohoku region, which includes Sendai, accounts for about 8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the Cabinet Office figures.