Stocks in Asia were mostly higher on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled overnight that it would not raise interest rates in 2020.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 regained 32.95 points, or 0.1%, to 23,424.81.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.61 against the U.S. dollar after touching an earlier high of 108.44.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index hiked 348.71 points, or 1.3%, to 26,994.14, with shares of Chinese tech juggernaut Tencent surging 3.1%. Life insurer AIA also saw its stock gain 2.3%.
Korea was higher as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged more than 2.5% each.
The Australian dollar was at $0.6882 after rising from levels below $0.681 in the previous session.
The moves regionally came as the Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, a decision that was largely anticipated — capping a year where the U.S. central bank cut its benchmark rate three times. The Fed also indicated it does not expect any policy changes through at least 2020.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 slid 11.73 points, or 0.3%, to 3,891.02
Meanwhile, developments on U.S.-China trade continued to be monitored ahead of Sunday, when additional tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. are set to kick in.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex gained zoomed 135.65 points, or 1.2%, to 11,836.42
In Korea, the Kospi added 31.73 points, or 1.5%, to 2,137.35
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index moved higher 21.77 points, or 0.7%, to 3,194.67
In New Zealand, the NZX jumped 16.02 points, or 0.1%, to 11,307.98
In Australia, the ASX 200 let go of 43.8 points, or 0.7%, to 6,708.83
