Asian markets mostly fell on Wednesday, tracking US stocks lower, as concerns over central banks' next moves heightened uncertainty and led to a spike in volatility.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed 0.69 percent lower, and the Shanghai and Shenzen composites also ended lower.
Wall Street shares closed sharply lower Tuesday, lead by energy, as investors digested a spike in volatility and falling oil prices, while looking ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting.
The yen eased broadly against its rivals on Wednesday following a report on the Nikkei Business daily which said the Bank of Japan is considering taking further monetary easing steps, including taking interest rates further into negative territory.
EUR/JPY climbed to 116.08 while the AUD/JPY rose more than 0.8 percent to 77.42. Sterling rose to 135.62 yen.
The dollar extended overnight gains and was up more than 0.5 percent to 103.35 yen. The greenback broke to a fresh eight day high but forex investors were cautious with the Fed and BOJ meetings still to come next week.
EUR/USD was mostly flat overnight, hitting a low of 1.1213.
