Asian shares mostly higher after wobbly day on Wall Street

Asian shares logged moderate gains on Thursday after Wall Street stabilized following a sell-off in tech stocks the day before.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1% to 26,642.88 after the Bank of Japan wrapped up a policy meeting with no major changes, maintaining its near-zero interest rate stance despite a sharp weakening of the yen against the dollar and rising costs for many imported commodities.

The dollar rose to 129.70 Japanese yen after the BOJ policy announcement, which indicated the central bank remains determined to keep lending conditions ultra-lax to help support the sluggish economy. It was trading at 128.43 yen late Wednesday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has begun raising interest rates to counter surging inflation and investors have been selling yen to seek higher returns in dollar-denominated assets.

Chinese benchmarks recovered from sharp drops as officials highlighted efforts to counter the impact of pandemic shutdowns in many cities.

The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.6% to 2,975.28 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.4% to 20,218.39.

Strict lockdown measures in China have added to concerns about slowing growth because of damage to the world’s second-largest economy. The flow of industrial goods has been disrupted by the suspension of access to Shanghai, home of the world’s busiest port, and other industrial cities including Changchun and Jilin in northeast China.