Market Update
Asian markets edged lower in choppy trades Wednesday as sentiment turned cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision later today.
The Nikkei lost 0.7% as the yen gained ground against the dollar.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.9% dragged by losses in the real-estate stocks.
The Hang Seng slipped 0.2% while the Sensex eased 0.1% at 9:40 a.m. IST.
Australia's All Ordinaries edged up 0.1% amid a volatile session.
Asian stocks took positive cues from Wall Street at open, but soon lost momentum as investors turned risk-averse ahead of a the Federal Reserve's policy announcement later in the global trading day. The Fed concludes its 2-day policy meeting today andis expected to announce a further reduction of $10 billion from in monthly bond-purchase program.
Stocks on the Move
Exporters in Tokyo were mostly lower owing to the yen's strength ahead of the Fed's decision.
Sharp Corp. tumbled nearly 5% while Mazda Motor Corp. backtracked over 2%. Komatsu Ltd. erased 1.2% while chipmaker Sumco Corp. fell 2.4%.
In corporate news, the U.S. Justice Department said it would announce a settlement with Toyota Motor Corp. Wednesday that could cost the Japanese automaker more than $1 billion in charges over disclosure of safety issues. Shares of Toyota Motor slipped 0.7%.
Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures said in a regulatory filing that it would lay off around 216 employees in California. Shares of Sony were down 0.4%.
Meanwhile, merger talks between J.Crew and Fast Retailing have reportedly ended without any fruitful conclusion. Shares of Fast Retailing erased 0.4%.
Among other losers, shipping companies Kawasaki Kishen K.K. lost 3.3%, Nippon Yusen K.K. gave up 2.4% and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines eased over 1%.
In Hong Kong, airline stocks were up in the green after recent string of losses following the mysterious disapperance of Malaysian Airlines.
Cathay Pacific Airways was up 3% while China Eastern Airlines flew 2.3% higher.
Casino plays and oil stocks were among other gainers. China Petroleum & CHemical Corp. tacked around a percent while CNOOC Ltd. enhanced around half a percent.
Casino operator Sands China and Wynn Macau added over a percent each.
But gains in these sectors were wiped out by losses inproperty stocks, financials and metal players.
China Resources Land & Investment retreated over 1% while Poly Property Group gave up around a percent.
Angang Steel lost 2.6% and Zijin Mining Group slipped 1.8%.
In Mumbai, IT stocks were among the top losers. TCS tumbled around 5% following reports the company's revenue growth for the quarter ending March could be lower than the previous quarter.
Close rival Infosys lost 3% and Wipro retreated 1.6%.
In Sydney, banks and miners traded mixed,
NAB and ANZ eased around 0.2% each while Westpac Banking added 0.4%.
In the mining segment, top miner BHP Billiton traded down 0.6% while close competitor Rio Tinto followed closely, down 0.8%.
But diversified iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals Group climbed 1.7% even as gold digger NewCrest Mining bounced 3%. Perseus Mining soared over 4%.