Market Update
Asian markets edged lacklustre in choppy trades Wednesday as sentiment turned cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the global trading day.
The Nikkei was up 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2% with losses in real-estate stocks weighing on the index. The Hang Seng edged 0.1% lower while the Sensex ended flat. Australia's All Ordinaries edged up 0.2% in 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 and is 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 over 4% while Mazda Motor Corp. backtracked 2%. Komatsu Ltd. erased half a percent while chipmaker Sumco Corp. fell 1.1%.
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 0.8%.
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 initially but reversed losses to end up 0.6%.
Meanwhile, merger talks between J.Crew and Fast Retailing have reportedly ended without any fruitful conclusion. Shares of Fast Retailing ended up 1.7%.
Shipping companies were lower with Kawasaki Kishen K.K. down a percent while Nippon Yusen K.K. gave up 1.3% and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines eased half a percent.
In Hong Kong, airline stocks were up after recent losses following the mysterious disappearance of a Malaysian Airlines jet.
Cathay Pacific Airways soared 2.3% while China Southern Airlines flew 2.4% higher.
Casino plays and oil stocks were also among the gainers. But these were offset by losses in property stocks, financials and metal plays.
In Mumbai, TCS erased earlier losses but still ended 3.8% lower and as the top loser on the Sensex following reports the company's revenue growth for the quarter ending March could be lower than the previous quarter.
Close rival Infosys lost 2.3%.
In Sydney, banks and miners traded mixed with NAB marginally lower while Westpac Banking and ANZ both gained about half a percent each.
In the mining segment, top miner BHP Billiton ended down 0.6% while close competitor Rio Tinto followed closely, down 0.8%.
But diversified iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals Group climbed 2.3% even as gold digger NewCrest Mining shone 2.6%. Perseus Mining was up 2%.