Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday due to caution over the Federal Reserve's policy meeting and the health of China's property market.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4 percent, heading for its first decline in three days, as the yuan weakened near an 11-month low and money-market rates rose.
Kingsoft Corp. jumped 7.6 percent to head for a record close in Hong Kong after the computer-software maker posted earnings that beat estimates, while instant noodle-maker Uni-President China Holdings Ltd. (220) slumped 8 percent after its 2013 profit missed projections. Country Garden Holdings Co. (2007) slid 3.4 percent in Hong Kong after the Chinese developer’s chief financial officer resigned. Fanuc Corp. rose 3.2 percent in Tokyo after Credit Suisse Group AG said it’s a good time to buy the industrial-robot manufacturer’s shares.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.2 percent to 134.76 as of 3:01 p.m. in Hong Kong, after falling and rising as much as 0.4 percent earlier. The U.S. and Europe pledged more sanctions against Russia while President Vladimir Putin, pushing to annex Crimea, said his country didn’t intend to further split Ukraine. The Federal Open Market Committee will end a two-day policy meeting today, after data yesterday indicated the U.S. home-building industry is stabilizing.
Fed Tapering
Leading economists see the Fed pressing on with cuts to its asset-purchase program and switching to qualitative guidance for assessing interest rates. The FOMC will further scale back its bond-buying at the meeting, reducing purchases for the third time by $10 billion to a $55 billion monthly rate, according to the survey done from March 14-17.
According to Matthew Sherwood who helps manage close to $25 billion at Sydney-based Perpetual Ltd, “Risk assets have recovered most of their lost ground since the Ukraine crisis was sparked a few weeks ago but there’s still a lot of volatility. The Fed will probably water down their forward guidance and keep U.S. interest rates low for at least another 18 months.”
Traders ignored gains in global markets overnight, where Wall Street and European stocks rose for a second straight session after Putin signed a treaty on Tuesday formally making Crimea part of the Russian Federation, but said he was not looking to take control of any other regions of Ukraine.
Fears over a crisis in China's real-estate market dominated trade for a second session after property developer Zhejiang Xingrun reportedly defaulted on its debt on Tuesday, less than two weeks after the mainland's first onshore corporate bond default.