Asia Shares Edge Up as Investors Second-Guess Fed

Bareksa.com - Asian shares crept cautiously higher on Wednesday after Wall Street rebounded on speculation the Federal Reserve would maintain a pledge on low rates when a two-day policy meeting ends later in the session.

The Dow hit a fresh record while the U.S. dollar took a knock after the Wall Street Journal's Fed watcher Jon Hilsenrath said the central bank would keep the words "considerable time" in its policy statement, though it might qualify them.

The phrase has become a touchstone in markets for when the Fed might start raising interest rates and dropping it would be taken as a hawkish step.

Dealers said commodities were also boosted by a report from Sina.com that China's central bank was pumping more liquidity into the country's five largest banks.

The report cited a banking analyst saying the People's Bank of China would provide 100 billion yuan to each bank for a three month period.

There was no confirmation on the story and Sina.com is a private portal not known for breaking market-moving news. Still, it fuelled market hopes Beijing was ready to add more stimulus given recent weakness in housing, imports and industrial output.

Traders were now waiting to see if Chinese shares would rally after a sharp fall on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo's Topix added 0.2 percent, while the Nikkei put on 0.3 percent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.37 percent after a run of losses.

Wall Street had ended strongly in the wake of the Fed talk, with the Dow gaining 0.59 percent, the S&P 500 0.75 percent and the Nasdaq 0.75 percent.

Bond investors were more guarded and yields on two-year Treasury debt dipped a slim 2 basis points to 0.54 percent. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was little moved at 2.594 percent.

Currencies were ruffled with the U.S. dollar losing a little of its recent gains. The dollar index eased back to 84.102, from a 84.372 top on Tuesday.

The dollar faded to 107.14 yen from 107.34, while the euro inched up to $1.2955 from a trough of $1.2921.

Sterling continued to be shoved around as opinion polls showed the vote on Scottish independence was too close to call.

Three surveys - from pollsters ICM, Opinium and Survation - showed support for Scottish independence at 48 percent compared to 52 percent backing union.

The pound flew from $1.6163 to $1.6306, before steadying at $1.6261 in Asia.

In commodities, copper futures jumped 0.9 percent aided by the report on Chinese banks and the slight dip in the dollar. Spot gold was a shade firmer at $1,234.81 an ounce.

Oil prices eased a touch after bouncing on Tuesday as speculation grew of a supply cut from OPEC.

Early Wednesday, Brent crude was off 18 cents at$98.87 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures fell 24 cents to $94.64 per barrel. (Source : Reuters)