Publications
Partners
Hong Kong - Asian markets mostly fell on Wednesday after the OECD cut its forecasts for global growth, citing the likely effect of any wind-down in the Federal Reserve's stimulus programme.
Tokyo fell 0.33%, or 50.48 points, to 15 076.08, Sydney lost 0.84%, or 45.2 points, to end at a five-week low of 5 307.7, and Seoul fell 0.71%, or 14.40 points, to 2 017.24.
But Shanghai rose 0.62% or 13.49 points, to 2 206.61 as traders remained upbeat after China on Friday unveiled a blueprint for economic reform that includes a greater role for private firms and a relaxation of investment rules. Hong Kong was 0.23% higher in late trade.
For investors in much of Asia, the negative impact of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report outweighed more positive comments from Fed chief Ben Bernanke.
In a prepared speech Tuesday, Bernanke said the US central bank would keep its easy money policy in place for as long as the economy needs to get back on track.
On currency markets the dollar hovered just above the ¥100 mark as traders await the release of minutes from the Fed's last meeting.
The greenback bought ¥100.06, compared with ¥100.13 in New York Tuesday, while the euro fetched $1.3545 and ¥135.52, against $1.3535 and ¥135.53.
Kengo Suzuki, forex strategist at Mizuho Securities, said Bernanke's comments "were initially perceived as dovish, leading to broad dollar-selling".
But he added: "We realized that his comments could be taken both ways - he said the decision to pull back depends on incoming economic indicators, and that led to some buying back."
Bernanke gave no hint as to when the Fed would start reining in its $85bn a month bond-buying scheme but said it was "committed to maintaining highly accommodative policies for as long as they are needed".
While the economy had made "significant progress" since the financial crisis, he said "we are still far from where we would like to be, and, consequently, it may be some time before monetary policy returns to more normal settings".
The remarks, at the National Economists Club annual dinner in Washington, were welcomed by traders as the "quantitative easing" (QE) has been credited with supporting global markets since it was introduced last September.
However, while dealers bet on a continuation of US easy money, the OECD warned that uncertainty around the future of the scheme had caused global risk.
In lowering its outlook for global growth in 2013 and 2014, the Paris-based organisation said old worries "have been augmented by new concerns, most notably the possibility of significant financial instability in advanced and, especially, (emerging economies) during the exit from unconventional monetary policies in the United States".
Eyes are now on the release later in the day of minutes from the Fed's most recent policy board meeting, with analysts looking for clues about the outlook for QE.
In oil trade New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for December delivery, was up 88 cents at $94.22 in Asian trading while Brent North Sea crude for January was up 23 cents at $107.15.
Gold fetched $1 274.90 per ounce at 09:00 compared with $1 272.46 on Tuesday.
In other markets:
-- Taipei slipped 0.67%, or 55.75 points, to 8 204.46.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fell 1.9% to Tw$103.0 while smartphone maker HTC rose 1.62% to Tw$157.0.
-- Wellington fell 0.46%, or 22.14 points, to 4 840.36.
