Shares in Asia-Pacific were lower on Thursday as the Bank of Japan announced its decision to hold steady on monetary policy.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo tumbled 278.15 points, or 1%, to 28,820.09.
Retail sales in Japan fell 0.6% in September from a year earlier, according to government data released Thursday.
The Bank of Japan kept interest rate targets unchanged on Thursday and the central bank cut its real Gross Domestic Product growth outlook and consumer inflation forecasts for fiscal 2021.
The Japanese yen traded at 113.53 per U.S. dollar, stronger then levels above 114 seen earlier in the week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 73.01 points, or 0.3%, to 25,555.93.
Shares of oil firms in Asia-Pacific also declined, with Australia’s Beach Energy dropping 2.8% while Inpex in Japan fell 4%. Hong Kong-listed shares of PetroChina plunged 3.6%.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7514, off levels around $0.753 seen earlier this week.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 docked 34.02 points, or 0.7%, to 4,864.14.
In Taiwan, the Taiex skidded 32.92 points, or 0.2%, to 17,041.63.
In Korea, the Kospi index slid 15.94 points, or 0.5%, to 3,009.55.
In Singapore, the Straits Times fell 14.35 points, or 0.5%, to 3,203.82
In New Zealand the NZX 50 dumped 49.26 points, or 0.4%, to 12,971
In Australia, the ASX 200 subtracted 18.33 points, or 0.3%, at 7,430.38.
