Japanese yen weakens to 156 against dollar after Bank of Japan leaves rates unchanged

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

The Japanese yen slid to over 156 against the U.S. dollar on Friday after the Bank of Japan left its benchmark interest rate unchanged.

The BOJ kept its benchmark policy rate at 0%-0.1% as expected. Japan's central bank also said it will continue to conduct bond purchases in line with the March decision.

The yen touched fresh lows following the decision.

Tokyo's headline inflation rate for April came in at 1.8%, slowing from the 2.6% in March. Core inflation in the capital — which strips out prices of fresh food — sharply fell to 1.6% from March's 2.4%, missing expectations of 2.2% from economists polled by Reuters.

Tokyo inflation data is widely considered as a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.81% to end at 37,934.76, while the Topix was up 0.86% and finished at 2,686.48.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 2.12%, leading gains in Asia, while mainland China's CSI 300 was 1.53% higher at 3,584.27.

South Korea's Kospi was up 1.05% and closed at 2,656.33, while the small cap Kosdaq saw a smaller gain of 0.42% to 856.82.

However, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.39% and closed at 7,575.9, dragged by industrial and health services stocks.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks tumbled after data showed a sharp slowdown in economic growth and pointed to persistent inflation.

U.S. gross domestic product expanded 1.6% in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast GDP growth would come in at 2.4%.

Along with the downbeat growth rate, the report showed the personal consumption expenditures price index increased at a 3.4% pace, well above the previous quarter's 1.8% advance.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average