CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Wednesday despite the modest losses overnight from Wall Street. However, gains are modest in most markets lingering uncertainty about a U.S.-China trade deal before additional American tariffs on Chinese goods are set to kick in on December 15.
Investors are also looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision due later in the day. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, although investors will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.
The Australian market is advancing, with stocks higher across the board.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 30.50 points or 0.45 percent to 6,737.40, after touching a high of 6,742.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is rising 27.80 points or 0.41 percent to 6,839.90. Australian stocks closed lower on Tuesday.
Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals is advancing almost 1 percent, BHP is adding 0.2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging up 0.1 percent.
Oil stocks are higher after crude oil prices rose overnight. Oil Search is advancing more than 1 percent, Woodside Petroleum is adding 0.5 percent and Santos is up 0.4 percent.
Gold miners are also advancing after gold prices edged higher overnight. Evolution Mining is higher by more than 1 percent and Newcrest Mining is rising 0.2 percent.
The big four banks - ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac - are up in a range of 0.2 percent to 0.9 percent.
GrainCorp said it has appointed Fonterra's global chief operating officer Robert Spurway as managing director and chief executive to lead the company following the planned demerger of its malt business in early 2020. The grain processor's shares are lower by 0.4 percent.
On the economic front, Australia will see December results for the consumer confidence index from Westpac today.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday. The local currency was quoted at $0.6810, down from $0.6826 on Tuesday.
The Japanese market slipped into negative territory after opening higher.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 39.41 points or 0.17 percent to 23,370.78, after touching a high of 23,438.43 earlier. Japanese shares closed marginally lower on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. is adding 0.4 percent, while Fast Retailing is down 0.3 percent.
The major exporters are mixed despite a weaker yen. Sony is declining 0.4 percent and Panasonic is down 0.2 percent, while Canon is rising 0.3 percent, and Mitsubishi Electric is adding 0.2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is rising almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing more than 1 percent. Among auto stocks, Honda Motor is rising 0.5 percent and Toyota Motor is up 0.3 percent.
In the oil sector, Inpex is declining 0.5 percent while Japan Petroleum is adding 0.3 percent after crude oil prices rose overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Sumco Corp. is rising almost 3 percent and Nippon Suisan Kaisha is higher by more than 2 percent.
On the flip side, Mitsui OSK Lines and Taiheiyo Cement are losing more than 2 percent each, while Eisai Co. and IHI Corp. are lower by almost 2 percent each.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said that producer prices in Japan were up 0.2 percent on month in November. That beat expectations for an increase of 0.1 percent following the 1.1 percent drop in October.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 108 yen-range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan are all modestly higher, while Shanghai is little changed. New Zealand is declining.
On Wall Street, stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday in choppy trading after House Democrats announced an agreement on President Donald Trump's trade deal with Canada and Mexico. The deal will allow the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or the USMCA, Trump's replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, to move forward in the House. Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid conflicting reports regarding trade talks between the U.S. and China, and ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
The Dow slipped 27.88 points or 0.1 percent to 27,881.72, the Nasdaq edged down 5.64 points or 0.1 percent to 8,616.18 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.44 points or 0.1 percent to 3,132.52.
The major European markets ended mixed on Tuesday. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil futures ended higher on Tuesday despite lingering concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to global economic slowdown and lingering uncertainty about the U.S. and China agreeing on a trade deal before this weekend. WTI crude for January added $0.22 or about 0.4 percent to $59.24 a barrel.
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