Stocks in Asia were mixed on Friday after the Bank of Japan adjusted its stance on its yield curve control policy.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 131.93 points, or 0.4%, to 32,759.23.
The BOJ also held its benchmark policy rate at -0.1%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters.
Japan’s central bank said that it will continue to allow 10-year government bond yields to fluctuate in the range of around plus and minus 0.5%.
However, it will “conduct yield curve control with greater flexibility, regarding the upper and lower bounds the range as references, not as rigid limits, in its market operations.”
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rocketed 277.45 points, or 1.4%, to 19,916.56.
In Australia, markets shrank as the country’s retail sales fell 0.8% year on year in June, lower than expectations in a Reuters poll that the retail sales figure will remain unchanged from a year ago.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 recovered 90.39 points, or 2.3%, to 3,992.74.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 33.75 points, or 1%, to 3,371.17.
In Korea, the Kospi Index advanced 4.51 points, or 0.2%, to 2,608.32.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index surged 51.11 points, or 0.3%, to 17,292.93.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 doffed 7.37 points, or 0.1%, to 11,946.74.
In Australia, ASX 200 ditched 52.27 points, or 0.7%, to 7,403.65.
