AFP
Asian markets rose yesterday following strong gains on Wall Street, as traders awaited news from the US Federal Reserve about interest rate plans for the world’s largest economy.
Tokyo gained 1.46%, or 224points to close at 15,553.91 while Seoul jumped 1.84%, or 35.49 points, to end on 1,961.17.
Hong Kong was up 1.27%, or 299.51 points to 23,819.87, while Shanghai rallied 1.50%, or 35.16 points, to 2,373.03 at the close, after Monday’s sell-off, sparked by news of a delay in plans for a cross-trading platform between the two markets.
Sydney bucked the regional trend, slipping 0.09%, or 4.90 points, to finish at 5,447.7.
In other markets, Bangkok closed up 0.39%, or 6.14 points, to 1,562.67; telecoms company Advanced Info Service fell 2.10% to 233baht, while Electricity Generating Public Company dropped 0.88% to 169baht.
Jakarta ended up 1.45%, or 72.75 points, at 5074.06; Bank Negara Indonesia gained 1.78% to 5,725 rupiah, while state miner Aneka Tambang slipped 0.53% to 940 rupiah.
Kuala Lumpur was up 13.87 points, or 0.76%, to close at 1,839.55; financial firm CIMB Group Holdings added 3.7% to 6.43 ringgit, while Telekom Malaysia rose 1.9% to 7.05. Budget carrier AirAsia lost 0.8% to 2.37 ringgit.
Singapore closed up 0.39%, or 12.38 points, to 3,224.03; oil rig maker Keppel Corp rose 0.97% to Sg$9.40, while DBS Bank gained 0.66% to Sg$18.43.
Taipei rose 130.13 points, or 1.48%, to 8,903.68; TSMC rose 0.78% to Tw$129.0, while HTC fell 0.38% to Tw$131.5.
Wellington rose 17.45 points or 0.33% at 5,355.88; Fletcher Building was up 0.96% to NZ$8.45 and Chorus lifted 1.45% to NZ$2.10.
Manila closed up 0.38% or 26.57 points to 7,093.31; top-traded Philippine Long Distance Telephone closed 1.07% lower at 3,158 pesos, while Universal Robina gained 0.44% to 183.40 pesos
Wall Street provided a healthy lead, with the Dow jumping back above 17,000 on Tuesday following a strong report on US consumer confidence and another round of mostly solid corporate earnings.
The Fed ends a two-day policy meeting yesterday, with traders expecting the central bank to end the vast asset-purchase stimulus programme credited with propping up US growth after the 2008 financial crisis.
Economists and traders widely anticipate that the Federal Open Market Committee will use a post-meeting statement, due at 1800 GMT, to announce the end of the six-year-old “quantitative easing” scheme.
But traders are more interested in what policymakers have to say about interest rates.
The Fed is expected to stay the course on near-zero rates, after repeatedly saying the first rise would come “a considerable time” after the bond-buying stops.
On foreign exchange markets the greenback fetched ¥108.12 yen in Tokyo trade against ¥108.16 in New York. The euro was nearly flat at $1.2737 from $1.2733 and ¥137.73 against ¥137.74.
Oil prices edged higher as traders awaited the Fed statement and looked to the weekly US inventories report, which will give clues about demand in the world’s top crude consumer. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for December delivery rose 29 cents to $81.71 while Brent crude for December was up 38 cents at $86.41 in afternoon trade.
US oil reserves are expected to have risen by 3.1mn barrels in the week to October 24, according to the consensus estimate of analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal.
The expected surge in stockpiles, coming after a 7.1mn rise last week, could add to worries about a global oversupply and put pressure on crude prices.
Gold was at $1,227.70 an ounce, against $1,230.40 late Tuesday.
