Asian Equities Higher Before Fed Meeting

Asian shares marked gains while the dollar held steady on Tuesday, as investors awaited the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting that begins later in the session for clues to the direction of U.S. interest rates.

“Ahead of the European open, we’re calling the major bourses positive with a bit of a recovery after yesterday’s weakness,” he said, predicting London’s FTSE .FTSE could open about 0.2 higher, while Germany’s DAX .GDAXI and France’s CAC .FCHI could open up 0.3 percent.  MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS shrugged off early losses and a lackluster performance on Wall Street to rise about 0.4 percent as China and Hong Kong shares rebounded on hopes of more reforms to state-owned enterprises. The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC surged 1.7 percent.

But Japan’s Nikkei stock average .N225 dropped 0.4 percent on concerns over corporate earnings after disappointing results from Canon Inc (7751.T), despite upbeat economic data released before the market open.  Japanese retail sales in September rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier, government data showed, suggesting consumer spending is gradually picking up.

Reuters

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