Asian markets end mostly lower on Wednesday

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday as falling oil prices and fresh geopolitical worries in light of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Brussels kept risk appetite in check ahead of the long Easter break beginning on Friday. Japanese shares fell in choppy trade as investors remained wary of movements in yen, oil and China's yuan, which eased against the dollar today, despite a firmer midpoint setting by the People's Bank of China. Seoul shares ended lower as investors braced for earnings and North Korea threatened a ‘miserable end’ for South Korea's president and her American allies in its latest colorfully worded attack. But Chinese shares bucked the trend to finish higher, despite Fitch Ratings warning on banks' profitability in 2016. Fitch expects Chinese bank profits to decline this year unless authorities relax the minimum NPL provisioning requirement of 150 percent.