Asian markets ended mixed today, as investors reacted to the release of China's latest benchmark lending rate. China's one-year loan prime rate was kept unchanged at 3.7 percent, today.

So, while the stock markets in Japan were closed for a holiday today, China's Shanghai Composite index ended 0.1 percent higher and Singapore's Straits Times index rose 0.8 percent. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.9 percent and South Korea's Kospi index dropped 0.8 percent.

In Europe, key indices opened mixed with London's FTSE-100 had added 0.5 percent; France's CAC-40 had gained 0.1 percent and Germany's DAX had traded marginally higher, in intra-day trade.