By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - Major Asian stock markets ended mixed on Thursday ahead of the key European Central Bank (ECB) monetary meeting.
The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, fell 17.9 points or 0.56% to 3,211.7.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange increased 122.7points, or 0.44%, to 27,803 after the Bank of Japan decided to maintain its ultra-low interest rates at minus 0.1% for the short term and 0% for the long term.
The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, plunged 316 points, or 1.5%, to 20,574 points.
China's Shanghai Stock Exchange decreased 32.7 points, or 0.99%, to 3,272 at Thursday's close as the resurgent COVID-19 outbreak clouds market sentiment.
On Wednesday, the People's Bank of China kept its key interest rate unchanged at 3.7%.
In India, the Sensex benchmark was up 284.4 points, or 0.51%, to close at a six-week high of 55,681.95, while the Singapore index lost 17.8 points, or 0.57%, to close at 3,152.