Summary The Bank of Japan on Wednesday held fire on expanding its asset-purchase scheme.
HONG KONG (AFP) - Asia's markets were mixed Wednesday following a healthy lead from Wall Street, with Tokyo giving up most of its earlier gains as the yen rose on the Bank of Japan's decision to stand pat on its stimulus programme.
Tokyo's Nikkei edged up 0.11 percent, or 15.88 points, to finish at 14,304.11. However, the yen eased again after the market closed when the Bank of Japan said it had lowered its growth expectations for the country in the current fiscal year, fuelling hopes for fresh stimulus measures.
Seoul slid 0.15 percent, or 2.98 points, to 1,961.79 but Shanghai added 0.30 percent, or 6.02 points, to 2,026.36 on the last day of a holiday-hit week.
Sydney was flat, nudging up 2.5 points to 5489.1, while in later trade Hong Kong was 1.18 percent lower on profit-taking.
The Bank of Japan on Wednesday held fire on expanding its asset-purchase scheme as it awaits the effects of a sales tax hike that was introduced at the start of April.
But analysts said it would likely be forced to ramp up its monetary easing at some point to counter a downturn in the world's number-three economy.
"While the Bank of Japan left policy settings unchanged today, we still think more easing will be announced in the second half of the year," said Marcel Thieliant, an economist at London-based Capital Economics.
After the market closed bank policymakers said they had lowered their growth expectations for the economy to 1.1 percent in the year to March owing to tepid data and the sales tax rise, which has fuelled fears about the nation's recovery.
The downgrade, from a previous forecast of 1.4 percent, was detailed in the central bank's semi-annual outlook.
However, its view that inflation would come in at 1.3 percent over the same time period was unchanged.
On foreign exchange markets the dollar rose against the yen on expectations of further BoJ easing. In the afternoon the greenback bought 102.51 yen compared with 102.64 late in New York, however it is well up from the 102.17 yen on Monday in Tokyo when the Nikkei was last open.
The euro fetched $1.3801 and 141.51 yen, against $1.3811 and 141.75 yen in New York on Tuesday.
- Focus on Federal Reserve meeting -
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In New York trade the Dow and S&P 500 enjoyed a second-straight pick-up after last week's sell-off, despite a mixed bag of corporate earnings and economic data. The Dow rose 0.53 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.48 percent and the Nasdaq gained 0.72 percent.
Later Wednesday the US Federal Reserve will complete its own policy meeting, with observers tipping a further cut in its multi-billion-dollar asset-purchase scheme as the economy continues to show signs of improving.
Also, Washington will release its initial estimates of gross domestic product growth for the first three months of the year, which saw a severe winter storm hit most of the country.
Other data due for release this week include manufacturing activity around the world and US non-farm payrolls, which will provide a clearer idea about the country's recovery.
Oil prices were down. New York's West Texas Intermediate for June delivery dropped 80 cents to $100.48 in afternoon trade, and Brent North Sea crude for June eased 32 cents to $108.66.
Gold fetched $1,291.47 an ounce at 0725 GMT compared with $1,290.38 on Tuesday.
In other markets:
-- Taipei fell 0.91 percent, or 80.67 points, to 8,791.44.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was off 1.66 percent at Tw$118.5 while leading smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision shed 2.84 percent to Tw$1,885.
-- Wellington jumped 1.64 percent, or 84.39 points, to a record high of 5,232.68.
Xero surged 5.54 percent to NZ$31.65 as and Warehouse Group was up 3.35 percent at NZ$3.39.
