CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as investor attention turned to the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later today.
The Fed is not expected to announce any significant policy changes, but investors will still pay close attention to the central bank's assessment of the economic outlook.
Chinese shares ended lower after the release of inflation data. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 12.36 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,943.75, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended marginally lower at 25,049.73.
Consumer prices in China fell 0.8 percent month-on-month in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said - missing expectations for a fall of 0.5 percent following the 0.9 percent drop in April.
On a yearly basis, consumer prices rose 2.4 percent - also shy of forecasts for an increase of 2.7 percent and down sharply from 3.3 percent in the previous month.
The bureau also said that producer prices were down an annual 3.7 percent versus expectations of a fall of 3.3 percent following the 3.1 percent slide a month earlier.
Japanese shares ended on a mixed note ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The Nikkei average rose by 33.92 points, or 0.15 percent, to 23,124.95, while the broader Topix index closed 0.23 percent lower at 1,624.71.
Exporters finished broadly lower as the yen strengthened after the release of machinery orders data. Tech stocks surged, with Advantest rising 2.7 percent and Tokyo Electron adding 1.5 percent.
Honda Motor rose 0.4 percent. The automaker said its Turkey plant resumed operations following a cyberattack that disrupted its internal network and brought some factories around the world to a standstill.
The value of core machine orders in Japan tumbled a seasonally adjusted 12.0 percent month-on-month in April, standing at 752.6 billion yen, the Cabinet Office said. That missed estimates for a fall of 8.6 percent following the 0.4 percent drop in March.
On a yearly basis, core machine orders sank 17.7 percent - again missing forecasts for a fall of 14.0 percent following the 0.7 percent decline in the previous month.
S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Japan to stable from positive citing increased uncertainty around debt stabilization. The agency affirmed the sovereign ratings at 'A+'.
Australian markets ended marginally higher to extend gains for the seventh straight session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 inched up by 3.50 points to 6,148.40, while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 6.40 points at 6,269.30.
Electronics retailer Harvey Norman soared 7.3 percent after announcing a huge jump in sales during Covid-19 lockdown. Retail conglomerate Wesfarmers surged 4.9 percent. CSL led the gainers in the healthcare sector to end up by 2.6 percent.
The big four banks fell between 0.8 percent and 1.1 percent. Santos and Woodside Petroleum fell around 3 percent as oil prices edged lower on concerns over rising U.S. inventories.
Online retailer Kogan.com entered a trading halt ahead of a share sale to institutional and retail investors.
Australia's consumer confidence rebounded to around pre-Covid levels in June, driven by continued success in bringing the coronavirus under control, survey data from Westpac showed today.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment advanced to 93.7 in June from 88.1 in May.
Seoul stocks rose for the ninth consecutive session as investors awaited the Fed meeting outcome. The benchmark Kospi gained 6.77 points, or 0.31 percent, to close at 2,195.69, with online portal operator Naver and its smaller rival Kakao climbing around 3 percent.
New Zealand shares fell modestly, with the benchmark NZX-50 index ending down 38.17 points, or 0.34 percent, at 11,260.52.
The volume of total manufacturing sales in New Zealand dropped a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent sequentially in the first three months of 2020, Statistics New Zealand said in a report. That follows the 2.8 percent increase in the three months prior.
U.S. stocks fell broadly overnight on concerns that markets may have run too far too soon despite nationwide protests and lingering coronavirus risks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 1.1 percent and the S&P 500 shed 0.8 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.3 percent.
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