Hayami - 'Stupid' to ask me if about to resign

"Don't ask such stupid questions," Hayami told reporters Wednesday when asked about market rumours he planned to step down soon.

Speculation that the hawkish 77-year old BOJ governor might be on the verge of resigning has come and gone over the past year amid unsubstantiated rumours about his bad health and discontent with the job.

Hayami has consistently denied those rumours.

The latest talk comes after a report in a major Japanese daily Wednesday morning, citing political sources, suggested that Hayami had tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in February. Koizumi refused, the report said.

Analysts were quick to discredit the speculation, however, citing Hayami's appearance of good health, the fact that he has less than one year left in office to run, and because there is apparently little consensus yet over who would replace him as governor.

Hayami has attracted many critics in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who accuse the central bank of not taking radical-enough measures to fight the nation's persistent deflation.

Despite holding overnight rates almost to zero and flooding the financial system with trillions of yen in excess liquidity, the BOJ has failed to arrest three straight years of price declines.

Consumer prices fell 0.8% in February.