Fed's view pushes Asia higher
Asia's biggest markets closed mainly higher Wednesday as investors welcomed the Federal Reserve's positive view of U.S. economic growth.
Japan had the biggest gain, with the broad Topix index jumping almost 1.5 percent.
Megabank MTFG rose almost 7 percent and UFJ put on 5 percent as their merger looked to move closer.
In South Korea, the Kospi was up about 0.6 percent. Australia and New Zealand also rose, but Taiwan slipped half a percent.
Hong Kong and Singapore are slightly lower near the close.
The U.S. dollar is higher against the Japanese yen, trading in Tokyo at 111.24 yen late in the Asian day.
The Nikkei 225 finished the day up 0.88 percent to 11,049.46. On Tuesday, the index rose 0.41 percent.
The broader Topix index of all first section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange put on 1.46 percent to 1121.11. The Topix rose 0.31 percent the day before.
Japanese techs, automakers and banks led the gains, with big exporter Canon up 1.7 percent and Sony 1.4 percent higher. Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba and Matsushita Electric all finished well in the black.
Toyota and Honda led automakers with gains of around 3 percent. Nissan finished 2 percent higher at 1160 yen.
MTFG, now favored to win the race for merger target UFJ, jumped 6.9 percent to 1.02 million yen. UFJ finished 5.18 percent higher to 487,000 yen.
SMFG was 1.26 percent ahead to 645,000 yen after a court ruling lessened its chances of a merger. (Full story)
In Seoul, the Kospi ended 0.59 percent higher to 753.06. Hyundai Motor rose 0.87 percent, while Samsung Electronics put on 0.35 percent to 425,500 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 ended 0.33 percent ahead to 3511.1. News Corp. rose 1 percent after its board moved a step closer to changing the company's domicile from Australia to the United States. (Full story)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia put on 0.32 percent to A$31.04 after posting record full-year earnings. (Full story)
New Zealand's Top 50 was 0.3 percent ahead to 2763.44.
Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.49 percent to 5367.34, though chip foundries TSMC and UMC both finished in the black.
In Singapore the Straits Times index is 0.36 percent lower to 1894.48. Singapore Airlines is down almost 2 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is 0.16 percent lower to 12,388.03 near the close. Leading bank HSBC is down slightly to HK$118.00.
Traders in Asia welcomed the U.S. Fed's optimistic view of the U.S. economy. As expected, the Fed decided Tuesday to raise interest rates to 1.50 percent, from 1.25 percent.
The Fed said while the economy had slowed, it "appears poised to resume a stronger pace of expansion going forward." The Fed said soaring energy prices contributed to the weakness, but that their effect would be transitory.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.3 percent Tuesday to finish at 9,944.67. The Nasdaq composite index was up 1.9 percent at 1,808.70. (Full story)
