At the end of a week that has seen narrow gains for most indexes, investors were cautious before Bernanke's speech to see if he will set out a plan to kickstart the stumbling US economy.
Tokyo rose 0.29 per cent, or 25.42 points, to 8,797.78 and Seoul added 0.81 per cent, or 14.37 points, to 1,778.95.
Sydney dipped 0.30 per cent, or 12.8 points, to 4,200.0, while Shanghai shed 0.12 per cent, or 3.07 points, to end at 2,612.19 and Hong Kong fell 0.81 per cent, or 169.60 points, to 19,582.88.
"This may be the calm before the storm," Hisatsune Kobayashi, general manager of global investment strategy at SMBC Nikko Securities in Japan, told Dow Jones Newswires.
"Although most market players don't expect US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to introduce aggressive monetary easing measures tonight, investors will nevertheless be disappointed if he does nothing at all."
Markets got a poor lead from Wall Street, which saw big falls after a three-day rally.
The Dow fell 1.51 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.56 per cent and Nasdaq slumped 1.95 per cent.
Rumours that Bernanke's speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, will outline fresh stimulus measures sent the dollar lower this week as monetary easing would flood markets with dollars.
The greenback fetched 77.00 yen, against 77.45 yen in New York late Thursday but well up from the record low 75.95 yen it hit last Friday.
The euro was trading at $1.4436 versus $1.4378 while it fell to 111.10 yen from 111.35.
There is still some scepticism as to whether Bernanke will endorse a further round of quantitative easing, or "QE", in which a central bank buys assets from banks with electronically-generated cash to pump liquidity into the economy.
Tomohiro Ishikawa, dealer at Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking, said: "Market participants are seen staying sidelined today awaiting what Bernanke will actually say."
News that Naoto Kan had stepped down as prime minister of Japan had little effect on markets, dealers said, as it had been widely expected ahead of a vote next week on his successor.
On oil markets New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October delivery eased 34 cents to $84.96 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for October rose eight cents to $110.70.
Gold closed at $1,789.00-$1,790.00 an ounce in Hong Kong, up from Thursday's close of $1,738.00-$1,739.00.
Singapore closed 0.63 per cent, or 17.56 points, lower at 2,748.18.
Singapore Airlines fell 0.57 per cent to Sg$10.55 and Singapore Telecom rose 1.97 per cent to Sg$3.10.
Taipei added 0.46 per cent, or 34.23 points, to 7,445.10.
HTC rose 2.27 per cent to Tw$767.0 while TSMC was 1.34 per cent higher at Tw$67.9.
Manila closed 0.90 per cent, or 39.20 points, lower at 4,303.49.
Lepanto Mining shed 1.9 per cent to 1.58 pesos, Alliance Group fell 2.1 per cent to 10.20 pesos and Energy Development lost 0.3 per cent to 6.30 pesos.
Kuala Lumpur sank 1.36 per cent, or 19.93 points, to 1,444.81.
Petronas Chemicals fell 4.3 per cent to 6.03 ringgit and Hong Leong Financial Group shed 3.8 per cent to 11.68, while Axiata Group gained 1.9 per cent to 4.72 ringgit.
Jakarta closed flat, dipping 2.64 points to 3,841.73.
Bank Mandiri shed 0.7 per cent to 6,800 rupiah, while coal producer Adaro lost 3.6 per cent to 2,025 rupiah.
Bangkok edged up 1.19 per cent or 12.22 points to 1,037.22.
Mumbai fell 1.84 per cent on Friday, hitting an 18-month-low in nervous trade.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed down 297.5 points to 15,848.83, its lowest closing since February last year.
India's top property firm DLF fell 5.76 per cent or 10.75 rupees to 175.85 while energy giant Reliance Industries slid 4.61 per cent or 34.8 rupees to 719.5.
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