Stock markets in Asia were mixed on Wednesday, with Hong Kong stocks coming under pressure on nerves about the US government shutdown, now entering its ninth day, while a weaker yen helped Japanese stocks push ahead.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 143 points at 14,037 in Tokyo while the broader Topix advanced 1.5% to 1,166. The Hang Seng retreated 144 points to 23,033 in Hong Kong.
Shares of internet giant Tencent spearheaded losses in Hong Kong as investors booked profits among technology stocks.
Meanwhile the impasse in Washington continued to drain market confidence; however news that President Barack Obama plans to nominate Janet Yellen as the new US Federal Reserve Bank chief brought some cheer.
Japanese exporters such as Toyota Motor increased 3.0%, Fast Retailing firmed 0.8% while Honda Motor rose 0.5% as the yen weakened against the dollar. Real estate firm Sumitomo Realty & Development rallied 3.4%.
Chinese trade and inflation data at the weekend and at the start of next week will come under scrutiny as investors gauge the underlying strength of the economy.
Analysts still searching around for that "third arrow"
Before the opening bell Credit Suisse put out a research note in which it reduced its exposure to Japanese equities to 7% overweight from 16% overweight.
Amongst the reasons cited for cutting their exposure to Japanese equities were the [some] signs of weaker relative growth momentum and the fact that net fiscal tightening in calendar year 2014 is greater than in any other region (-0.9% of GDP) loom large.
As well, they went on to explain that there has been little detail on the so-called "third arrow" of structural economic reforms] - and the rate of foreign equity buying is already extremely high, they pointed out (which means that less demand can be expected from this source going forward).
Source: LiveCharts
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 143 points at 14,037 in Tokyo while the broader Topix advanced 1.5% to 1,166. The Hang Seng retreated 144 points to 23,033 in Hong Kong.
Shares of internet giant Tencent spearheaded losses in Hong Kong as investors booked profits among technology stocks.
Meanwhile the impasse in Washington continued to drain market confidence; however news that President Barack Obama plans to nominate Janet Yellen as the new US Federal Reserve Bank chief brought some cheer.
Japanese exporters such as Toyota Motor increased 3.0%, Fast Retailing firmed 0.8% while Honda Motor rose 0.5% as the yen weakened against the dollar. Real estate firm Sumitomo Realty & Development rallied 3.4%.
Chinese trade and inflation data at the weekend and at the start of next week will come under scrutiny as investors gauge the underlying strength of the economy.
Analysts still searching around for that "third arrow"
Before the opening bell Credit Suisse put out a research note in which it reduced its exposure to Japanese equities to 7% overweight from 16% overweight.
Amongst the reasons cited for cutting their exposure to Japanese equities were the [some] signs of weaker relative growth momentum and the fact that net fiscal tightening in calendar year 2014 is greater than in any other region (-0.9% of GDP) loom large.
As well, they went on to explain that there has been little detail on the so-called "third arrow" of structural economic reforms] - and the rate of foreign equity buying is already extremely high, they pointed out (which means that less demand can be expected from this source going forward).
Source: LiveCharts
