Asian markets ended mostly in green on Friday after the Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged near zero and the bank's latest projections showed the underlying inflation staying around 2 percent that further damped expectations for aggressive tightening in future. The BoJ policy board, headed by Governor Kazuo Ueda, unanimously decided to hold the overnight interest rate at around 0 to 0.1 percent. The board also voted to conduct its bond purchase programme in line with the decision made at the March meeting. Besides, traders were getting encouragement as Microsoft and Google's parent company Alphabet both beat Wall Street's Q1 expectations, offsetting Meta Platforms' disappointing forward guidance.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,088.64 | 35.74 | 1.16 |
| Hang Seng | 17,651.15 | 366.61 | 2.08 |
| Jakarta Composite | 7,036.08 | - 119.21 | - 1.69 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,575.16 | 5.91 | 0.38 |
| Nikkei 225 | 37,934.76 | 306.28 | 0.81 |
| Straits Times | 3,280.10 | -7.65 | -0.23 |
| KOSPI Composite | 2,656.33 | 27.71 | 1.04 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 20,120.51 | 263.09 | 1.31 |
