Asian shares mixed, eyes on BoJ meeting

Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday, with Tokyo reversing earlier losses thanks to a slip in the yen against the dollar and euro as investors await the end of a Bank of Japan policy meeting. Wall Street provided a soft lead on its first trading day of the week owing to an underwhelming slate of corporate earnings results and despite an upward revision of the International Monetary Fund's global growth outlook. Tokyo rose 0.11 percent and Shanghai added 0.39 percent, but Sydney eased 0.80 percent and Seoul was 0.14 percent lower, while Hong Kong was flat. The Nikkei benefited in late morning trade as the dollar and euro clawed back losses against the yen suffered in New York on Tuesday. Traders are waiting to find out what the Japanese central bank has to say about Asia's number two economy when it winds up a two-day policy meeting Wednesday. While analysts do not expect the BoJ to add to its already huge asset-buying scheme -- instead waiting to see the effects of April's sales tax increase -- they will be looking for clues about its intentions for the future. In forex trade the dollar was at 104.40 yen, compared with 104.32 yen late in New York. The euro fetched $1.3568 and 141.67 yen against $1.3559 and 141.46 yen. US shares ended mixed as investors returned from a long, holiday weekend. The Dow eased 0.27 percent, while the S&P 500 rose 0.28 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.67 percent. Economists said the first batch of earnings reports had come in below par, with fewer than usual companies beating expectations while those that did gave mediocre outlooks. The next major event in the United States is next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting, its first since in December saying it would cut its bond-buying by $10 billion a month to $75 billion. "Although US job creation slowed markedly last month, many investors suspect that the Fed has seen enough general improvement in the US economy to dial back on stimulus, perhaps by another $10 billion to $65 billion," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions, according to AFP.