Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday after the central bank decided to leave its main policies unchanged, resulting in a stronger yen that pushed exporter shares lower.
The Nikkei share average declined as much as 1.1 percent shortly after the Bank of Japan announced its decision. Japan's benchmark index gained back some ground to end 0.7 percent lower at17,117.07.
The profit outlook for major exporters was hurt by the stronger yen, with Toyota Motor Corp shares ending 1.8 lower and Panasonic Corp share falling 1.4 percent.
Hong Kong shares finished down on Tuesday as investors took profits following the previous day's rally.
The Hang Seng index fell 0.7 percent, to 20,288.77, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.9 percent, to 8,605.63 points.
Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 1.2 billion shares.
The Hang Seng was up 1.2 percent on Monday, in the wake of mainland indices which were up nearly 3 percent in Monday morning trade after regulator comments over the weekend indicated it was premature to consider withdrawing government rescue funds from the market.
China stocks recouped early losses to end modestly higher on Tuesday, led by gains in finance, consumer and real estate shares.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.3 percent to 3,074.78 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.2 percent to 2,864.37 points.
Both indexes were down around 1 percent by midday as traders took profits following sharp gains on Monday.
Reference: Reuters
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