Publications
Partners
Hong Kong - Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday as US debt woes were offset by President Barack Obama's offer of a short-term deal to end the political gridlock in Washington.
There was also broad support for stocks and the dollar on news that Obama would nominate Janet Yellen to take over from Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chief, raising hopes the bank would stick to its easy money policy.
Tokyo climbed 1.03%, or 143.23 points, to 14 037.84 and Sydney ended flat, edging up 3.6 points to 5 153.0. Shanghai closed 0.62% higher, adding 13.57 points to 2 211.77 but Hong Kong finished 0.63% lower, giving up 144.88 points to 23 033.97.
Seoul was closed for a public holiday.
With the government shutdown moving into a ninth day, global investors are concerned Republicans and Democrats will not find a way round a budgetary impasse before an October 17 deadline to raise the borrowing limit.
Obama said Tuesday world leaders were nervous that Republicans would "blow up" the US economy if they did not abandon their demands for cuts to his healthcare law in return for passing a new budget and raising the borrowing limit.
Failure to raise the limit would mean the government could not pay its bills or service its debts, triggering a default that analysts have warned could send the world economy back into recession.
However, Obama did say he was willing to accept a short-term deal to raise the $16.7trn debt ceiling and reopen the government - effectively postponing the crisis for a number of weeks.
"If (the Republicans) can't do it for a long time, do it for the period of time in which these negotiations are taking place," he said.
Despite the president's comment, Wall Street saw a big sell-off. The Dow fell 1.07%, the S&P 500 sank 1.23% and the Nasdaq tumbled 2.00%.
But Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said Asian dealers welcomed Obama's comments and the nomination of Yellen, considered a fiscal dove who will likely keep the bank's stimulus programme in place for as long as needed.
"There is some support in the market after these two pieces of news, but investors are still well aware that a resolution still depends on the House, which remains deadlocked," he told AFP.
Kelly Teoh, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore, said: "(Yellen) is very much accepted by Asian investors because of her dovish stance on tapering and there is confidence that she will continue to keep interest rates low. Investors here see her as the closest to Bernanke."
In late trade the dollar rose on the back of the Fed news, buying ¥97.32 compared with ¥96.86 in New York on Tuesday.
The euro fetched $1.3519 compared with $1.3572, and ¥131.60 against ¥131.47.
On oil markets New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November, was down 15 cents at $103.34 in afternoon trade. Brent North Sea crude for November eased 35 cents to $109.81.
Gold cost $1 317.42 at 10:56 compared with $1 320.86 on Tuesday.
In other markets:
-- Taipei eased 0.37%, or 30.92 points, to 8 344.73.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was unchanged at Tw$105.0 while leading chip design house MediaTek was 0.92% higher at Tw$382.0.
-- Wellington fell 0.59%, or 28.05 points, to 4 710.63.
Contact Energy was down 0.19% at NZ$5.29 and Telecom eased 0.43% to NZ$2.30 but Warehouse Group gained 0.27% at NZ$3.68.
-- Manila slipped 1.19%, or 77.11 points, to 6 377.75.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone fell 2.34% to 2 926 pesos while Megaworld Corp. rose 3.8% to 3.55 pesos.
