Asia stocks mixed on Bernanke comments, U.S. earnings; Nikkei up 0.31%

Investing.com - Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday after investors digested Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's congressional remarks, where he reiterated past policy stances that the U.S. central bank remains ready to stimulate the economy but only if it veers further off course.

Better-than-expected earnings out of the U.S. fueled buying and selling as well.

During Asian trading on Wednesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.60%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was down 0.29%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was up 0.31%.

Earlier, Bernanke told lawmakers the Fed would be willing to stimulate the economy through measures such as quantitative easing, though not until the economy softens further.

Recent sluggish monthly jobs reports, dismal retail sales and soft consumer sentiment figures had markets betting the Fed would have been increasingly likely to jolt the economy, which would have been bullish for stocks.

Still, Bernanke didn't shut the door on the idea of intervening either, which left room for interpretation that the Fed will move but later on.

Bernanke will appear before Congress again later Wednesday, and the Fed will separately publish its Beige Book, a group of summaries on the nation's economy, which may offer more guidance as to whether the world's largest economy will need a new crutch from its central bank to avoid deflationary and labor-market decline.

Meanwhile, stronger-than-expected earnings in the U.S. sparked demand for stocks in Asian markets.

Yahoo! surprised Wall Street by positing second-quarter earnings excluding items of USD0.27 per share, up from USD0.18 cents a share during the same period a year earlier.

Net revenue, which does not include fees paid to partner websites, hit USD1.08 billion in the quarter, up from USD1.076 billion at this time last year.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of USD0.23 per share on revenue of USD1.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters forecasts.

Earlier Tuesday, chipmaker Intel beat earnings forecasts as well.

The company reported second-quarter earnings excluding items of USD0.54 cents per share, unchanged from USD0.54 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose 4% to USD13.5 billion from USD13.03 billion a year ago.

Analysts were expecting the company to report earnings excluding items of USD0.52 a share on USD13.56 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs surprised on the upside as well.

Japanese stocks were up on news the Bank of Japan board members won't rule out further stimulus as well, according to the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting.

In Hong Kong, top decliners included China Unicom, down 2.75%, HSBC Holdings, down 2.13%, and Tencent, down 2.06%.

In Australia, top decliners included Mount Gibson Iron, down 6.81%, Aquila Resources, down 5.93%, and Gindalbie  Metals, down 5.75%,

European stock futures indicated a lower opening.

France's CAC 40 futures pointed to a loss of 0.27%, while Germany's DAX 30 futures signaled a loss of 0.20%. Meanwhile, in the U.K., the FTSE 100 futures indicated a loss of 0.14%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.15% while the S&P 500 futures were down 0.21%.

Later Wednesday, the U.S. will release data on building permits and a report on housing starts.

The country is also to release government data on crude oil stockpiles.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is to testify for a second day on the bank’s monetary policies before Congress.

The Fed will also release its Beige Book, a group of summaries on the nation's economy, later in the day.