Asian markets were mixed Thursday, pausing for breath after oil prices extended declines.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan nicked ahead 0.42 points to 17,862.63, having grown nearly 10% since November 9.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong dropped 17.65 points, or 0.1%, to 22,262.88
By late afternoon, the yen started to weaken against the U.S. dollar, tracking 109.29, but had hovered around 108 levels during most of the Japanese trading session earlier.
The Bank of Japan announced it would buy 10-year Japanese government bonds (JGBs) in order to keep yields around zero percent and cap short-term rates. This was the central bank's first bond operation since September when it adopted a new policy framework targeting 10-year JGB yields.
Japanese banks were lower after the news. Mitsubishi UFJ was down 1.4% to 673.2 yen, Mizuho slid 0.6% to 197.9 yen, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group tumbled 1.4% to 4,133 yen.
Markets in South Korea opened one hour later on Thursday, due to the national college entrance examinations.
Australian markets barely cleared breakeven, seeing the biggest losses in its energy sub-index, which was down 1.2%.
Shares of major Australian oil companies were lower: Santos fell 2.7% to A$3.95, Woodside Petroleum lost 1.6% to A$29.27 and Oil Search was flat at A$6.79.
CSG tumbled 36.9% to A$0.77 per share after the business technology provider lowered its FY2016 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) guidance.
Rio Tinto was up 1.1% at A$57.59 per share, after news broke that the Australian mining giant sacked two of 10 most senior executives amid an investigation about payments to a consultant to help it secure rights to develop an untapped iron ore reserve in Guinea.
The Australian dollar was trading at $0.7476 against the U.S. dollar by mid-afternoon, compared to levels above $0.75 seen earlier this week.
In other markets
The CSI 300 in Shanghai regained 6.94 points, or 0.2%, to 3,436.53
In Korea, the Kospi added 0.9 points, or 0.1%, at 1,980.55
The Straits Times Index in Singapore recovered 19.49 points, or 0.7%, to 2,813.48
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index gained 33.04 points, or 0.4%, to 8,995.26
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 slid 9.92 points, or 0.2%, to 6,814.66
Australia's benchmark ASX 200 gained 10.87 points, or 0.2%, at 5,338.54
