Stock market today: Asian benchmarks mostly slide as investors focus on earnings

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined Thursday as investors awaited a flood of global earnings reports, including updates from U.S. tech companies known as the “Magnificent Seven.”

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 2.1% to 37,670.50. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.4% to 2,637.18. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained nearly 0.1% to 17,215.51, while the Shanghai Composite was virtually unchanged at 3,044.41.

Trading was closed in Australia for a national holiday, Anzac Day.

Attention is also turning to the Bank of Japan, whose two-day monetary policy meeting started Thursday.

“For the record, heading into tomorrow’s policy decision, exceptional Japanese yen weakness is the agitated elephant in the room for the BOJ,” Tan Jing Yi of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 155.67 Japanese yen from 155.31 yen. The euro cost $1.0715, up from $1.0697.