Asia ends mixed on Fed decision
(CNN) -- Asian stocks closed mixed on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold and markets reacted to the Athens bombing.
Taiwan finished sharply lower, the Taiex plunging more than 5 percent on big falls among tech stocks such as TSMC and UMC.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also was in the red.
With Japan, South Korea and China on holiday, the focus was on these two markets, along with Australia and Singapore.
In Australia, stocks finished about half a percent higher after the central bank left rates on hold, as expected. (Full story)
That came after the U.S. Federal Reserve left rates at 1958 lows, but dropped a pledge to be patient from its commentary. Investors saw that as a move closer to lifting rates. The Fed said any shift would be at a "measured" pace. (Full story)
Singapore is up about 0.3 percent heading towards the close. Interest is on SingTel, ahead of its earnings release on Thursday.
Temasek's bid for a half-share of UOL is also having an impact on bank UOB.
In Taiwan, the Taiex closed 5.4 percent lower to 5854.23.
Chip foundry TSMC, which won approval last week to spend $900 million on a chip plant in China, plunged 6.8 percent to T$55.00.
Smaller rival UMC fell 6 percent to T$28.40. Acer lost 6.8 percent to T$46.50.
Industrials were also down, with Far East Textile off 7 percent to T$18.60.
In Sydney, big miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton helped push the S&P/ASX200 0.48 percent higher to 3407.6.
BHP closed up 2.5 percent to A$11.79 and Rio Tinto finished 2 percent ahead to A$33.10.
The market's biggest stock, media group News Corp. eased slightly to A$12.65, after a 1.6 percent gain in its U.S.-listed American Depositary Receipts.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index is up 0.4 percent to 1872.92. Leading bank DBS Group is 1.4 percent ahead to S$14.40.
Small rival UOB is steady at S$13.90 after government investment group Temasek Holdings launched a hostile bid for UOB's 49 percent stake in property arm UOL.
SingTel is 1.25 percent higher to S$2.43. It said Wednesday that the head of its Australian unit Optus would step down later this year. (Full story)
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is down about 1 percent to 11,982.06, dropping back below the 12,000 mark on falls for Hutchison Whampoa and China Mobile.
Hutchison is about 1.4 percent lower at HK$52.50 and China Mobile is down 1.6 percent to HK$21.35.
But HSBC is up 0.4 percent to HK$114.50.
On Wall Street Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average finished flat, up just 0.03 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq put on 0.61 percent to 1950.48. (Full story)
