Asia markets were mostly lower on the final trading day of the week, as investors digested major central banks' decisions to stand pat on their monetary policies.
Stateside, the U.S. Federal Reserve opted not to raise interest rates on Wednesday local time, citing a slowdown in economic activity in the country. Then on Thursday, the Bank of Japan (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 8301.T-JP) (BOJ) unexpectedly kept its policy steady, disappointing a substantial section of the market that was betting on further stimulus.
Australia's ASX 200 (ASX: .AXJO) reversed early losses to close up 26.77 points, or 0.51 percent, at 5,252.20, adding 0.3 percent for the week. The index was supported on Friday by gains in the heavily-weighted financials sub-index, as well as the energy and materials sub-indexes.
In South Korea, the Kospi (Korea Stock Exchange: .KS11) finished down 6.78 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,994.15, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: .HSI) fell 1.37 percent as of 2:50 p.m. HK/SIN. Chinese mainland markets were mixed, with the Shanghai composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) dropping 7.13 points, or 0.24 percent, at 2,938.45, while the Shenzhen composite (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJSZ) finished nearly flat.
Japanese markets are closed on Friday for a public holiday. The Japanese benchmark index (Nihon Kenzai Shinbun: .N225) tumbled 3.61 percent in the previous session, while the yen strengthened rapidly, following the BOJ decision. The Nikkei 225 lost more than 5 percent for the week.
As of 3:11 p.m. HK/SIN, the yen (Exchange: JPY=) traded at 107.14 against the dollar, compared with levels over 108 earlier in the session. That followed the pair's fall of as much as nearly 3 percent Thursday afternoon local time from levels over 111. The pair traded at lows not seen since October 2014.
"It was certainly surprising to me that they basically did nothing new, especially when there were market expectations for them to do something else on the equity purchases or other easing measures," Eric Stein, co-director of global fixed income at Eaton Vance, told CNBC via email Friday about the BOJ decision.
Stein said for the past few weeks, BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda had "seemed frustrated with the yen strength," and that his rhetoric had helped "move the currency from 108 to the 111s [level] and now its back to 108" against the dollar.
Kathy Lien, managing director of foreign exchange strategy for BK Asset Management said the main takeaway from the BOJ meeting is that "the Japanese feel no immediate pressure to use monetary policy or currency intervention to turn around the economy."