By Daniel Inman
Asian markets were lower on Wednesday, in cautious trading ahead
of next week's Federal Reserve meeting, while Japan was weighed by
a stronger yen.
The region followed the U.S. lower, after stocks on the Wall
Street fell overnight as investors sold to cash in some of the
strong gains for the year and continued to worry about the
potential impact of the Federal Reserve reducing its stimulus.
Speculation over when the Fed will start to roll back its
bond-buying program has been a persistent theme in Asia since the
early summer, when it sparked a series of selloffs in the region.
Recent employment data from the U.S. have been strong, which has
raised expectations that the Fed could start to withdraw its
stimulus as early as in its December policy meeting next week,
giving trading a general air of caution.
This caution could be seen in the dollar's movement against the
yen, which pulled back overnight, after spending much of Tuesday
with striking distance of challenging its year high. The dollar
(USDJPY) lost a total of 0.4% against its Japanese counterpart
overnight and was last trading at Yen102.80, compared with
Yen102.84 late Tuesday in New York.
The yen's push back against the dollar weighed on Japanese
stocks, with the Nikkei last down 0.4%.
Stocks also edged lower in China, where Hong Kong's Hang Seng
Index lost 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.6%. Investors
are waiting for the conclusion of a meeting of senior officials
that started Tuesday, where they will review this year's economic
progress and map out plans for 2014.
HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) , the single largest constituent on the
Hang Seng Index, fell 0.5% after the bank said it agreed to sell
its 8% stake in Bank of Shanghai to Spain's Banco Santander S.A. .
The bank didn't say how much it was selling the stake for but it
valued the holding at $468 million at Sept. 30.
South Korea's Kospi was up 0.3%.
In Australia, the S&P ASX 200 fell 0.1%, the index's fifth
consecutive decline, as investors continued to worry about the
impact of a flurry of initial public offerings hitting the market
before the end of the year.
Shares in QBE Insurance Group (QBIEY) gained 3.6% on Wednesday,
as J.P. Morgan upgraded the company to neutral after falling a
total of 32% on Monday and Tuesday. The insurer's surprise profit
warning earlier this week had hit broader sentiment in Sydney.
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