Asia Pacific markets rose on Friday, as investors watched for developments from the Korean peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the inter-Korean Summit for talks.
That session followed after Wall Street saw gains, helped by strong quarterly results from some of the biggest U.S. companies.
The Nikkei 225 Index leaped 148.26 points, or 0.7%, to end the week at 22,467.87
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index vaulted 272.99 points, or 0.9%, to 30,280.67
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its monetary policy on hold, leaving the short-term interest rate target at minus 0.1%. The central bank said it will purchase Japanese government bonds so that the yield on the 10-year note will remain at around zero percent.
It removed mentions of a time-frame by which it planned to achieve its 2% price stability target.
In its economic activity and prices outlook report, the central bank said risks were "skewed to the downside for fiscal 2019 onward." It expects Japan's economy to expand in fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020, supported by external demand. It said the growth pace was projected to decelerate and reflect a slowdown in domestic demand.
Two new deputy governors made their debut at the latest BOJ meeting -- Masayoshi Amamiya , a career central banker, and former academic Masazumi Wakatabe, a vocal advocate of aggressive easing. They both voted in favour of keeping the monetary policy on hold.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.27 to the U.S. dollar, weakening from an earlier level of 109.13, and the Australian dollar was at $0.7543.
Australian markets regained strength, with all sectors gaining. Energy picked up 0.6% and materials rose 0.7%The heavily weighted financial sector retraced earlier losses to add 0.2%
Major banking names mostly finished higher but shares of Commonwealth Bank declined 1% ANZ added 0.2% Westpac gained 0.6% and the National Australia Bank rose 0.4%.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 inched up 1.39 points to 3,756.88
In Korea, the Kospi Index gained 16.76 points, or 0.7%, to 2,492.40
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index acquired 7.19 points, or 0.2%, to 3,577.21
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index recovered 64.85 points, or 0.6%, to 10,553.43
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 regrouped 88.32 points, or 1.1%, to 8,370.37
In Australia, the ASX 200 recouped 42.87 points, or 0.7%, to 5,953.65
