Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday with the Nikkei 225 down as the yen rebounded from recent weakness and the Shanghai Composite ended the morning up on economic reform hopes.
The Nikkei ended the morning down 2.05% after comments from a Bnak of Japan board member, Takehiro Sato, who said that more monetary easing would not help raise inflation expectations, throwing some cold water on hopes for more stimulus.
The Shanghai Composite however ended the morning up 1.27% as market sentiment grows that economic reforms, including a move to freely float the yuan, are gathering steam as officials openly talk of specific plans, though the mainland neighbor, the Hang Seng index, closed the morning down 0.35%.
In Australia, slower than expected GDP growth in the third quarter, sent the AUD down along with the S&P/ASX 200, which fell about 0.3%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell after investors bet that the Federal Reserve remains on track to begin tapering the pace of its monthly bond-purchasing program in early 2014.
Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases drive down interest rates to spur recovery, boosting stock prices in the process, and talk of their dismantling can dampen stock prices by fanning uncertainty as to how equities will perform without a monetary crutch.
Stocks also fell as investors jumped to the sidelines to await the release of Friday's November jobs report.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day down 0.59%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.32%, while the Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.20%.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 1.86%, France's CAC 40 fell 2.65%, while Germany's DAX 30 fell 1.90%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 finished down 0.95%.
On Wednesday, the U.S. is to release the ADP report on private-sector job creation, while the Institute of Supply Management is to release its service-sector purchasing managers' index. The U.S is also to publish data on new home sales and data on its trade balance.
The Nikkei ended the morning down 2.05% after comments from a Bnak of Japan board member, Takehiro Sato, who said that more monetary easing would not help raise inflation expectations, throwing some cold water on hopes for more stimulus.
The Shanghai Composite however ended the morning up 1.27% as market sentiment grows that economic reforms, including a move to freely float the yuan, are gathering steam as officials openly talk of specific plans, though the mainland neighbor, the Hang Seng index, closed the morning down 0.35%.
In Australia, slower than expected GDP growth in the third quarter, sent the AUD down along with the S&P/ASX 200, which fell about 0.3%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell after investors bet that the Federal Reserve remains on track to begin tapering the pace of its monthly bond-purchasing program in early 2014.
Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases drive down interest rates to spur recovery, boosting stock prices in the process, and talk of their dismantling can dampen stock prices by fanning uncertainty as to how equities will perform without a monetary crutch.
Stocks also fell as investors jumped to the sidelines to await the release of Friday's November jobs report.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day down 0.59%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.32%, while the Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.20%.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 1.86%, France's CAC 40 fell 2.65%, while Germany's DAX 30 fell 1.90%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 finished down 0.95%.
On Wednesday, the U.S. is to release the ADP report on private-sector job creation, while the Institute of Supply Management is to release its service-sector purchasing managers' index. The U.S is also to publish data on new home sales and data on its trade balance.