Asia-Pacific shares were mixed on Thursday as China saw softening in its inflation print in February. The economy's consumer price index grew 1% year on year, the slowest pace since February 2022.
The Shanghai Composite shed 0.22% to close at 3,276.09 and the Shenzhen Component lost 0.16% to end at 11,579.99. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.22%.
Japan's Nikkei 225's closed 0.63% higher at 28,623.15 and the Topix climbed 0.97%, ending at 2,071.09 as Bank of Japan kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting.
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will conclude his final meeting on Friday, and investors are closely watching for any changes that could take markets by surprise. Economists polled by Reuters are widely expecting to see no changes in its ultra-dovish monetary policy.
In South Korea, the Kospi slipped 0.53% to 2,419.09 while the Kosdaq lost 0.58% to end at 809.22. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.05% to 7,311.1.
Overnight in the U.S., major stock indexes were mixed as traders parsed stronger than expected economic data, sparking concerns of bigger rate increases following Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's congressional speech.