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Hong Kong - Asia's markets were mixed on Wednesday following a healthy lead from Wall Street, while investors turn their attention to US and Japanese central bank policy meetings and economic growth data from the United States.
Tokyo's Nikkei - which was closed on Tuesday for a public holiday - benefited from a weaker yen, edging up 0.23% by the break, although traders were cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) policy decision.
Seoul added 0.15% and Shanghai gained 0.15% but Sydney eased 0.25% and Hong Kong dipped 0.32% after rallying on Tuesday.
On foreign exchange markets the greenback bought ¥102.40 compared with ¥102.64 late in New York. However, it is well up from the ¥102.17 on Monday in Tokyo when the Nikkei was last open.
The euro fetched $1.3808 and ¥141.4, weakening from $1.3811 and ¥141.75 in New York on Tuesday.
New York saw the Dow and S&P 500 enjoy a second straight pick-up after last week's sell-off, despite a mixed bag of corporate earnings and economic data. The Dow rose 0.53%, the S&P 500 added 0.48% and the Nasdaq gained 0.72%.
However, investors are focused on Wednesday's activity, which kicks off in Tokyo with the BoJ expected to hold off announcing any addition to its stimulus until it has properly assessed the impact of this month's sales tax hike.
While no moves are anticipated analysts will be poring over what the bank has to say about the state of the economy and its near-term forecast.
"The BoJ's view on inflation and any progress or outlook it sees in achieving its 2% target will be the most closely watched commentary," Daisuke Uno, strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., told Dow Jones Newswires.
"Stocks may actually get a boost if the BoJ view is poor, as more aggressive easing measures will come to be expected. It would be a classic 'bad news is good news' scenario."
Later, the US Federal Reserve will complete its own meeting, with observers tipping a further cut in its multi-billion-dollar asset-purchase scheme as the economy shows further signs of improving.
Also, Washington will release its initial estimates of gross domestic product growth for the first three months of the year, which saw a severe winter storm hit most of the country.
Other data due for release this week include manufacturing activity around the world and US non-farm payrolls, which will provide a clearer idea about the country's recovery.
Oil prices were down. US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate for June delivery, eased 72 cents to $100.56 in early Asian trading. Brent North Sea crude for June also dipped 23c to $108.75.
Gold fetched $1 295.32 an ounce at 02:20 GMT compared with $1 290.38 on Tuesday.
