Asian stocks open on mixed performance with BOJ decision in focus

Asian stocks opened on mixed performance but mostly negative, to join its American counterpart in the week's fourth session, With Chinese stocks, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi falling, while Japanese stocks rose on the threshold of the decisions and directions of the BOJ monetary policy makers and the press conference of the Governor of the Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda.

In contrast, South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) index showed a contraction in the first quarter, which weighed heavily on the performance of the Kospi index. We would like to point out that the trading pulse is absent today, Thursday, from both Australian and New Zealand stocks due to the Anzac holiday there. This comes amid the continue in revealing the business results of the first quarter of major international companies and banks.

On the contrary, The markets are looking forward to the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe meeting with EU leaders today, before heading to Washington for a summit with US President, Donald Trump, in which they're expected to discuss a trade deal between the two countries. In addition to an extension of the waiver on U.S. sanctions on Iran and Iran's oil importers.

White House Press Secretary and Spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, said on Tuesday that the United States Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, and the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, will travel to Beijing by the end of this month for another round of trade talks and will meet Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, Liu He, who will head a Chinese delegation that will visit Washington for further discussions and trade talks on May 8th.

Japanese stocks witnessed a rise during today's trading session, with the broader Topix index rising by 0.21% to gain (3.34 points) up to 1,615.39, while Nikkei 225 index also rose by 0.31% (69.15 points) up to 22,269.15.

As for the Chinese stock indices, CSI 300 fell 0.54% to lose 21.79 points and reach 4,008.30, while the Shanghai Composite Index also fell 0.54% (17.28 points) to reach 3,184.34.

As for Hong Kong's Hang Sang it fell 0.02% (6.77 points) to 29,799.06. While South Korea's Kospi Index also fell 0.13% (2.81 points) to 2,198.22.