Most Asian
stock declined ahead of the Fed’s interest decision today. Market participants
expect the Fed will cut its asset purchase program by another $10 billion, but
the Fed will keep its interest rate unchanged until 2015.
The Bank of
Japan (BoJ) released its May monetary policy meeting minutes. The BoJ said the
country's economy is expected to continue its moderate recovery and the current
monetary easing appears to be having the intended results.
The BoJ
reported that the political unrest in Thailand could impact Japan's exports.
Japan's
merchandise trade deficit reached Y909 billion in May, after a deficit of
Y811.7 billion in April. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to
Y1,189.3 billion.
Japan’s
exports declined 2.7% year-on-year in May. That was the first decline in 15
months. Imports dropped at annual rate by 3.6%.
Indexes on
the close:
Nikkei
225 15,115.80 +139.83 +0.93%
Hang
Seng 23,181.72 -21.87 -0.09%
Shanghai
Composite 2,055.52 -11.18 -0.54%
Nikon Corp.
shares declined 2.6% after JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its rating.