Major Asia Pacific markets made gains by market close on Tuesday following overnight advances on Wall Street, as concerns over a possible global economic slowdown eased.
The Nikkei 225 shaved off 3.72 points to 21,505.31.
The yen, considered a safe haven currency, traded at 111.36 to the U.S. dollar, weakening from levels near 110.00 in the previous week as investors took on more risk.
The Hang Seng Index gained 62.65 points, or 0.2%, to 29,624.67
Australia's benchmark was up as the heavily-weighted financial sub-index added 0.5% while the energy sub-index was up 0.9%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its policy cash rate unchanged at 1.5% in line with market expectations.
In the monetary policy statement, Governor Philip Lowe said the low level of interest rates is supporting the Australian economy. He said the country's labour market remains strong and it has led to some pickup in wages growth. The RBA expects further progress in reducing unemployment and for inflation to gradually return to its target.
Lowe said the central scenario is for underlying inflation to be 2% in 2019 and 2.25% in 2020.
Australia is also set to announce the Federal Budget later in the day.
The Australian dollar had a muted reaction following the RBA's decision, paring earlier gains to trade at $0.7073 U.S., off an earlier high of $0.7129.
In other markets
The CSI 300 index dropped 2.84 points, or 0.1%, to 3,971.29
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 29.27 points, or 0.9%, to 3,279.78
Korea’s Kospi Index gained 8.9 points, or 0.4%, to 2,177.18
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index moved forward 47.67 points, or 0.5%, to 10,690.30
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 zoomed 104.43 points, or 1.1%, to 9,958.35
In Australia, the ASX 200 added 25.4 points, or 0.4%, to 6,242.36
