Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday as Shanghai fell on growth concerns, but Tokyo gained as first quarter GDP unexpectedly jumped.
The yuan fell against the dollar on Wednesday after the People's Bank of China set the fixing weaker at 6.5216 compared with 6.5200 previously.
The Shanghai Composite Index was last down 1.73%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was last down 1.44%. In China, house price data for April rose 6.2%, above the March gain of 4.9%.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.61% in the wake of a surprise gain in first quarter GDP, while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.23%.
In Japan, provisional GDP for the first quarter rose 1.7% year-on-year and at a 0.4% pace quarter-on-quarter, both handily above expectations.
In Australia, the MI leading index rose 0.2% for April, compared to a 0.1% drop the previous month. Also the first quarter wage price index rose 0.4%, compared with a 0.5% gain seen quarter-on-quarter and a 2.1% increase year-on-year, below the 2.2% rise seen.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, erasing most of their gains from the previous sessions, as two prominent Federal Reserve policymakers strongly hinted that the U.S. central bank could raise interest rates multiple times this year, providing downward pressure on the major indices.
At a joint appearance in Washington, both Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart and San Francisco Fed president John Williams suggested that "two to three rate hikes," seem possible, while Lockhart noted that a rate hike will still remain on the table when the Federal Open Market Committee meets next on June 14-15.
After approving its first interest rate hike in seven years at a meeting in December, the FOMC has left its benchmark Federal Funds Rate at a targeted range of 0.25-0.50% in each of its first three meetings this year. Any rate hikes by the Fed this year are viewed as bearish for equities, as investors look to capitalize on higher yields from U.S. Treasuries and other bonds.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 180.73 or 1.02% to 17,529.98, while the NASDAQ Composite index lost 59.73 or 1.25% to 4,715.73 both closing near session-lows. The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, fell 19.45 or 0.94% to 2,047.21, as nine of 10 sectors closed in the red.