Asia stocks mixed on Fed apathy; Nikkei down 0.54%
Published Dec 13, 2011 10:33PM ET
During morning Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.23%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was moving up 0.11%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.48%.
At its latest monetary policy meeting, the Federal Reserve said it saw no need for changes to monetary policies for now, language markets interpreted to mean that authorities were holding off on unleashing a third round of quantitative easing.
Under quantitative easing, the Fed buys assets from banks, and past rounds saw the Fed buy USD1.7 trillion in mortgage-backed assets, known widely as QE1, followed by a second round where the Fed bought USD600 billion in Treasury assets, known as QE2.
Such policies are designed to rev up economic activity in part by fueling stock markets, and the Fed's announcement put expectations for QE3 to rest, which sent the stocks falling.
Also in the U.S., retail sales came posting 0.2% growth in November, slightly below forecasts of 0.6% although still in positive territory, thus drawing lukewarm response from the markets.
China's leading losers included China Shenhua, down 3.28%, Li & Fung, down 2.76% and Wharf Holdings, down 1.65%.
In Australia, leading gainers included Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund, up 7.34%, Downer EDI, up 5.52% and Dexus Property Group, up 2.89%.
European stock futures, meanwhile, were up.
During Asian trade, France ’s CAC 40 futures were up 0.52%, while Germany ’s DAX 30 futures were up 0.30%. In the U.K. FTSE 100 futures were up 0.26%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.20% while the broader S&P 500 futures were up 0.28%.
Later Wednesday, Japan is due to unveil its Tankan non-manufacturing index, which gauges business conditions among large businesses excluding manufacturers, as well as the Tankan large manufacturers index.
In Australia, the Melbourne Institute (MI) Inflation Expectations numbers will publish, giving markets a forward-looking view of inflation rates to come.
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Written By: Investing.com
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