By Daniel Inman
Asian markets were mostly lower Tuesday ahead of the U.S.
Federal Reserve's policy meeting, with Japan weighed down by a
stronger yen.
Some of the largest moves were in China, where the Shanghai
Composite lost 0.9% on the mainland, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng
Index dropped 0.3%.
There were also sharp moves among Hong Kong banks as Wing Hang
Bank Ltd. (0302.HK) soared 40% after announcing that its
substantial shareholders had been approached for a possible stake
sale in the lender. The news had a knock-on effect on other local
financial companies -- most notably Dah Sing Banking Group Ltd. ,
which jumped 18.6%.
Tokyo started the day higher after coming back online after a
Monday public holiday, only to lose its early gains as the session
progressed. The Nikkei was last down 0.3%, as it was weighed by a
stronger yen.
Although the yen (USDJPY) weakened on Tuesday, it remained
higher than at the end of last week. The dollar was at Yen99.21
compared with Yen99.05 late Monday in New York but still lower than
Yen99.37 at the end of Friday.
Stocks and currencies across Asia rose Monday after Lawrence
Summers pulled out of the race to replace Ben Bernanke as the next
chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. As a result, the dollar
weakened against regional currencies, as Summers had been seen as
likely to push for a quicker reduction in the Fed's stimulus
program had he become chairman.
Shares in convenience-store operator FamilyMart Co. (8028.TO)
outperformed, rising 0.1% in Tokyo after a Nikkei report that the
company's March-to-August group pretax profit rose to a fresh
six-month high.
Also in Tokyo, pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo (4568.TO)
dropped 5.6% after news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
is blocking imports of medicine made at the newest plant of India's
Ranbaxy Laboratories, a Daiichi Sankyo subsidiary.
Malaysia's ringgit (USDMYR) also played catch-up after a
holiday, with the currency bumping higher on Tuesday -- last at
MYR3.2563 to the dollar compared with Friday's close of
MYR3.2880.
More broadly, stocks were coming down from Monday's gains ahead
of the Fed's policy meeting this week, where there are expectations
that the central bank could roll back its bond-buying program.
The meeting is important as regional markets were subject to a
number of selloffs in the summer, especially in Southeast Asia, as
investors became worried that the Fed could change direction on
stimulus.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6% and Indonesia's JSX lost 0.3%.
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