Asian markets were mostly higher Thursday with the Bank of Japan ramping up its asset purchase program.
Regional stocks spent the early part of the session in mixed territory amid negative leads from Wall Street; U.S. shares fell Wednesday as investors became less confident that a deal will be reached in time to tackle the approaching fiscal cliff.
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House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that the House would only approve legislation on Thursday to keep income taxes the same for all Americans earnings less than $1 million a year, and would maintain the current estate tax rate at 35% charged only to estates worth $5 million or more.
Mr. Boehner said that this so-called "Plan B" was the final chance for avoiding the fiscal cliff, but President Barack Obama has already said that he would veto such a deal.
The U.S. dollar gave up gains against the yen Thursday, falling to �83.98 after the BOJ's policy announcement, from �84.40 late Wednesday in New York after three consecutive days of gains.
The BOJ's board voted unanimously to take additional easing action, increasing the size of its asset-purchase program by �10 trillion to �101 trillion, and could continue to pursue more powerful easing measures. The majority of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected the central bank to introduce some easing measures.
Japanese stocks were lower, with the Nikkei Stock Average falling 1.2% to 10,039.33 after the BOJ's policy decision, and after it enjoyed its strongest day of 2012 on Wednesday.
South Korea's Kospi Composite rose 0.3% to 1999.50, coming back online after local markets were closed Wednesday for the country's election, which saw Park Geun-hye elected as the next president. While the market impact of the election is expected to be limited, Hyundai Engineering & Construction rose 4% on hopes that the new government might take measures to revive the housing and construction sectors.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.2% to 22,659.78, as big banks Standard Chartered and HSBC were up 3.1% and 1.4% respectively after Credit Suisse, lifted the European banking sector to benchmark from small underweight.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.3% at 2168.35, with financial stocks down following a strong run as the market had already gained 10.4% up to Thursday, from its most recent trough on December 3. China Minsheng Banking Corp. dropped 1.1%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 4634.10, as gains in some defensive stocks offset declines in miners. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group was up 0.6%, while Rio Tinto lost 0.6%.
Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com
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