Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Friday as the Bank of Japan held steady on monetary policy.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 plunged 276.01 points, or 1%, to 28,003.08.
Japan’s central bank downgraded its real Gross Domestic Product forecast for 2021 to 3.8% growth, as compared with the 4% growth forecast made in April.
The Bank of Japan also kept its yield curve control target at -0.1% for short-term interest rates and 0% for 10-year Japanese government bond yields. Yield curve control is a policy to stimulate the country’s economy, and entails keeping the 10-year Japanese government bond yield at zero.
Following that announcement, the Japanese yen traded at 109.95 per U.S. dollar, against an earlier high of 109.72 against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 8.41 points to 28,004.68.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7433 following a decline from around $0.748 yesterday.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 lost 56.69 points, or 1.1%, to 5,094.77.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index re-claimed 12.32 points, or 0.4%, to 3,152.30
The Kospi index in Korea dropped 9.31 points, or 0.3%, to 3,276.91.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index slumped 138.94 points, or 0.8%, to 17,895.25
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 eked up 1.99 points to 12,673.15
In Australia, the ASX 200 restocked 12.21 points, or 0.2%, to 7,348.12.
