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Mainland Chinese stocks show a good progress on Wednesday action as the property sector rallied on hopes the government will push through with policies that targets at stable economic development, while Australian shares advanced on expectations of an interest-rate trim.
Japanese stocks pulled back, however, giving back most of the gains recorded in the previous session amid caution ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision. Still, telecoms Softbank Corp. and KDDI Corp. helped cap losses after displaying strong profits results.
Japan down, Australia up
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average missed 0.8% to give back a part of its 1.5% hike Tuesday, while South Korea’s Kospi dive down 0.1%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 zoomed 1% in Sydney after Reserve Bank of Australia Gov. Glenn Stevens Tuesday said current inflation levels wouldn’t rule out further easing. Those remarks helped the index rebound in the previous session to end flat.
The stock moves in Asia came ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy statement due later in the global day, on hopes the Fed might offer more clues on when it’s likely to slow the pace of its monthly bond purchases — a key tailwind for global equity markets.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said not much has changed since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s congressional testimony earlier this month, and that it’s the strength of economic data that will likely drive the Fed’s policies.
“From here, traders, like the Fed, will be looking to the data to suggest the timing of the next move,” Spooner said.
In Tokyo, a slew of Japanese results announced after the market’s close on Tuesday influenced share movements during the session.
Softbank shot up 3.2% after more than doubling its quarterly profit, and fellow wireless-telecommunications firm KDDI jumped 6.3% after also reporting results.
In other earnings-driven moves, Fujitsu Ltd. dropped 3.1%, Japan Tobacco Inc. relinquished 0.4%, and Tokyo Electron Ltd. rallied 4.5%.
Several power utilities tumbled amid concerns over public and political resistance to restarting shuttered nuclear-power plants. Tokyo Electric Power Co. decreased with 4.7%, Chubu Electric Power Co. traded 3.7% lower, and Kansai Electric Power Co. gave up 4%.
Toyota Motor Corp. overcame early losses to jumped 0.2% ahead of its own earnings report Friday. A Nikkei newspaper report it plans to manufacture more than 10 million vehicles worldwide this year.
In Sydney, banks and other stocks paying high dividends rose amid rising expectations for a further reduction to interest rates. AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said late Tuesday that the markets had priced in a 91% chance of a rate cut at next week’s RBA meeting, following Gov. Stevens’ comments.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia skyrocketed 1.1%, and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group provided 1.6% more.
