An employee watches monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012. Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after Japan’s central bank said it would boost an asset-buying scheme to kickstart the economy. AP PHOTO/LEE JIN-MAN
HONG KONG—Asian markets rose Wednesday after Japan’s central bank said it would boost an asset-buying scheme to kickstart the economy, which also sent the yen lower against the dollar and euro.
The Bank of Japan said after a two-day policy meeting it would boost an asset-purchasing fund by 10 trillion yen ($128 billion) to 80 trillion yen while also keeping interest rates between zero and 0.1 percent.
Tokyo rose to its highest level in more than four months following the BoJ announcement, gaining 1.19 percent, or 108.44 points, to 9,232.21. It was the best finish for the Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange since May 2.
Sydney also closed at its highest level since May, gaining 0.54 percent, or 23.7 points, at 4,418.4 while Seoul was 0.15 percent higher, or 2.92 points, at 2,007.88.
Hong Kong rose 1.16 percent, or, 239.98 points, to 20,841.91 while Shanghai was up 0.40 percent, or 8.29 points, to 2,067.83. Mumbai was closed for a public holiday.
The BoJ’s move will see the bank provide more yen liquidity to markets as it purchases government and corporate bonds, and commercial paper.
Pressure had been on BoJ policymakers to follow the Europeans and Americans by announcing new plans to pump cash into the ailing economy.
The European Central Bank (ECB) this month sent equities soaring after saying it would buy unlimited amounts of debt from under-pressure eurozone members to lower their borrowing costs.
That was followed on Thursday by the Fed’s unveiling of a third round of bond-buying, or quantitative easing (QE3), to kickstart jobs growth in the world’s biggest economy.
Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi welcomed the BoJ decision, saying the bank “took more action than we anticipated” and it would help the economy.
Following the BoJ announcement, the dollar rose to 79.16 yen, from 78.78 yen before, while the euro was at 103.50 yen from 102.54 yen in the morning.
Late in the afternoon the dollar was at 78.96 yen while the euro was at 102.73 against the Japanese currency.
In Tokyo, shares in Japan Airlines rose 3.03 percent in early trade, almost three years after it became one of Japan’s biggest ever corporate failures, owing $29 billion, but they tracked back in the afternoon to close up 1.06 percent.
The carrier was delisted soon after the bankruptcy but has managed to bounce back after painful restructuring that has seen it raise $8.5 billion in an initial public offering, second in the world only to Facebook this year.
Oil prices were also lifted. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, was 69 cents higher at $95.98 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for November delivery added 78 cents to $112.81.
Gold was at $1,772.41 at 1000 GMT compared with $1,756.35 on Tuesday.
In other markets:
— Taipei rose 0.62 percent, or 47.65 points, to 7,781.91.
Hon Hai Precision increased 0.83 percent to Tw$96.9 while TSMC was 0.35 percent higher at Tw$86.0.
— Wellington fell 0.17 percent, or 6.58 points, to 3,797.89.
Telecom Corp. was down 2.74 percent at NZ$2.31.
— Manila finished down 0.26 percent, or 14.10 points, to close at 5,317.03.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. shed 1.18 percent at 2,830 pesos, and DMCI Holdings Inc. fell 0.08 percent at 58 pesos.
— Singapore closed up 0.25 percent, or 7.65 points, to 3,075.63.
Fraser and Neave fell 1.00 percent to Sg$8.88 while Singapore Airlines gained 1.99 percent to Sg$10.78.
— Kuala Lumpur gained 0.37 percent, or 6.0 points, to end at 1,646.11.
MMC Corp. added 3.2 percent to 2.57 ringgit, Petronas Chemicals rose 1.4 percent to 6.47 and RHB Capital gained 0.4 percent to 7.10.
— Jakarta closed 0.49 percent, or 20.82 points, higher at 4,244.71.
Coal company Bukit Asam jumped 2.8 percent to 16,650 rupiah, its rival Bumi Resources rose 4.8 percent to 880 rupiah, while nickel company Vale Indonesia gained 9.1 percent to 3,000 rupiah.
— Bangkok edged up 0.99 percent, or 12.60 points, to 1,285.46.
Siam City Cement gained 1.99 percent to 358 baht, while oil company PTTEP added 1.90 percent to 160.50 baht.