Asian shares mostly higher after Wall Street gains

Asian shares mostly higher after Wall Street gains

SeattlePI.com

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Shares retreated in Asia on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy announcement.

Benchmarks rose modestly in Tokyo and jumped in Sydney, but fell back in Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai.

Investors are awaiting the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting later Wednesday, which is expected to keep the benchmark rate at nearly zero for some time to help the economy recover from the pandemic downturn.

The U.S. central bank will release a statement that economists say might change some of the language around its existing pledge to buy bonds to support markets.

“Asian markets already have a quiet look about them, as they remain in wait and see mode ahead of the latest FOMC rate decision that is released in the early hours of tomorrow morning,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a commentary.

Japan’s central bank has begun a policy meeting that will wrap up Thursday but also is not expected to result in any major changes.

Japan reported that its trade balance swung into surplus in August as a 15% decline in exports from a year earlier was outpaced by a 21% drop in imports. Exports have been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic but the rate of decline has been narrowing over the past several months as shutdowns eased and the Chinese economy began to recover from a sharp downturn in early spring.

Japan's long-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, resigned as of Wednesday and was replaced by his chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga. Suga has said he intends to push ahead with Abe's policies and little change is expected for the world's third-largest economy.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to 23,475.53 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.2%, to 24,682.78. South Korea's Kospi gave up 0.4% to 2,433.41 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney jumped 1%...

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