Asia: Stocks rise as Japan hits 15-year high after BoJ meeting

Stocks in the Asian market ended higher on Wednesday driven by the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) decision to keep its quantitative easing (QE) programme on hold.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 hit a 15-year high finishing 0.76% higher thanks to a weaker yen after the BoJ meeting.

The yen fell to ¥119.9 against the dollar as the BoJ decided to hold its ¥80tn annual QE programme. According to a survey by Bloomberg, the central bank is expected to expand stimulus by the end of October.

The BoJ said that the Japanese economy “has continued its moderate recovery trend” with the increase in consumer price index likely at around zero percent.

Rabobank analysts said: "With the official inflation target set at 2% looking ambitious (or perhaps we should say 'unrealistic') due to deflationary pressure fuelled by the sharp fall in oil prices, Japan policy makers led by Governor Kuroda are likely to inject even more stimulus at some stage this year."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 3.8% in reaction to the Japanese central bank decision. The market expects more QE and additional stimulus from the People's Bank of China.

The Shanghai composite index also closed 0.84% higher on hopes of more monetary stimulus to help growth in the seconf biggest economy in the world.

Australia's ASX gained 0.59% thanks to gains in the energy and mining stocks. The Brent front month futures contract was trading down 1.18% or 70 cents at $58.40 per barrel on Wednesday morning, while the WTI was down 1.87% or $1.01 at $52.97 in Asian trading.

However, Australian banks were hit by the Reserve Bank's decision to keep interest rates unchanged at 2.25%, despite local anticipation of a cut as the country attempts to boost its economy. As a result, Commonwealth Bank of Australia lost 0.22%.

On a more positive note, Aussie mining group BHP Billiton gained 0.95% and oil and gas company Santos rose 4.37%.

Elsewhere, Chinese Alibaba Pictures Group jumped 36% as the company said it might receive an asset injection by its US parent Alibaba group.