Asian stocks dipped on Friday after weak corporate results halted Wall Street's record run overnight, while the yen held to large gains made after the Bank of Japan governor downplayed the need for "helicopter money" stimulus.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.4 percent. It remained close to its nine-month high seen on Thursday, and is headed for a fractional 0.1 percent gain on the week.
Japan's Nikkei share average remained on track for a weekly rise but slipped on Friday, as investors took profit after recent gains and the yen strengthened on waning expectations of radical monetary policy easing from the Bank of Japan.
The Nikkei stock index was down 0.9 percent at 16,660.01, pulling away from the previous session's seven-week highs intraday but still poised to gain about 1 percent for the week.
China stocks closed down on Friday after a central bank official cast doubts on the likelihood of further interest rate cuts and investors took profits following the previous day's bounce.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 0.8 percent, to 3,225.16, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.9 percent, to 3,012.82 points.
Sheng Songcheng, director of the Survey and Statistics Department at the People's Bank of China, said tax cuts would be a more effective way of stimulating the economy than interest rate cuts, the National Business Daily reported on Friday.
Sheng added that China was caught in a "liquidity trap," meaning that driving rates down further would have little effect on real investment.
Reference: Reuters
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