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Asian stocks mixed after Wall St rally

Hong Kong - Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday following a strong lead from Wall Street, with investors biding their time as they await the end of a crucial Federal Reserve policy meeting.

With few other trading cues, the main focus is on the Fed meeting, which is expected to see policymakers begin reeling in the bank's massive stimulus programme.

Tokyo rose 1.35%, or 193.69 points, to 14 505.36, while Shanghai added 0.29%, or 6.29 points, to 2 191.85.

However, Sydney ended 0.25% lower, shedding 13.1 points, to 5 238.1 while Hong Kong eased 0.27%, or 63.07 points, to 23 117.45. Seoul was closed for a public holiday.

While economists tip the Fed to announce a taper of its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying scheme - known as quantitative easing (QE) - the big question is how much it will be cut by.

"Most investors expect some kind of start to the tapering of the central bank's $85bn-a-month bond-buying programmes," Monex market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama told Dow Jones Newswires.

"A modest paring back is the most likely scenario, but few players are willing to place significant bets in any one direction."

Reduction forecasts range from $5bn to $15bn and Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities said a larger taper "might cause a little bit of market weakness. Anything else is priced in".

Global markets have focused intently on the Fed's plans for its stimulus, which has been credited with fuelling a huge investment spree.

Emerging economies - particularly India and Indonesia - have suffered a flight of foreign cash since Fed boss Ben Bernanke in May said the US economy was showing signs of strength that meant QE could be wound in.

On currency markets, the dollar pushed back against the yen on the expected tapering - which boosts demand for the greenback as there is less cash swirling around financial markets.

The dollar bought ¥99.02, compared with ¥99.14 in New York in Tuesday, while the euro was at $1.3353 and ¥132.24 against $1.3356 and ¥132.38.

Asian traders were given a bright lead from Wall Street, where the Dow ended 0.23% higher and the S&P 500 added 0.42%. The Nasdaq climbed 0.75% to its highest close since September 2000.

On oil markets, New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in October was up 94 cents at $106.36, while Brent North Sea crude for November was down 41 cents to $108.20.

Gold was $1 305.40 an ounce at 10:05 compared with $1 319.11 late Tuesday.

In other markets:

-- Taipei fell 0.49%, or 40.60 points, to 8 209.18.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co shed 2.37% to Tw$103.0 while chip design house MediaTek was 0.54%lower at Tw$370.0.

-- Manila lost 0.16%, or 10.18 points, to end at 6 333.96.

-- Wellington rose 0.12%, or 5.80 points, to 4,703.83.

Air New Zealand gained 1.83% to NZ$1.39 while Contact Energy was 2.32% higher at NZ$5.29


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