Beijing– Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on how sharply to raise interest rates to cool U.S. inflation, the Associated Press reported.
Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced. Tokyo and Sydney declined. Oil prices edged higher.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.4% on Tuesday.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.8% to 3,348.58.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6% to 21,396.83 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 1.1% to 26,326.16.
The Kospi in Seoul shed 1.8% to 2,447.52 after the government reported South Korea’s unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 2.8% in May.
Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 sank 1.3% to 6,599.20.
India’s Sensex opened down less than 0.1% at 52,683.77. New Zealand, Indonesia and Bangkok declined while Singapore advanced.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 25 cents to $119.18 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $2 on Tuesday to $118.93. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, added 32 cents to $121.49 per barrel in London. It fell $1.10 the previous session to $121.17.
The dollar declined to 134.69 yen from Tuesday’s 135.30 yen. The euro gained to $1.0476 from $1.0411.
Source: Saudi Press Agency