The leading stock exchanges in Asia offer both declines and increases on Thursday.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo has lost 0.5 percent and the broader Topix index is minus 0.7 percent.
South Korea's Kospi index has increased 0.9 percent, after the country's central bank, as expected, announced that the interest rate will be left unchanged at 2.5 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is around zero, while the composite index in Shanghai and Shenzhen is up 0.3 percent and down 0.2 percent, respectively.
