Asia markets were mixed in morning trade on Wednesday, ahead of key central bank decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand this week. Australia's benchmark ASX 200 was up 1.07 percent, led by advances in the financials, energy and materials sub-indexes. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 initially advanced 0.25 percent before giving up gains to trade down 0.53 percent, while across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was down 0.13 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was flat, while Taiwan's Taiex dropped 0.06 percent. Chinese mainland markets were higher, with the Shanghai composite up 0.21 percent and the Shenzhen composite adding 0.46 percent. Analysts said markets are still mostly on hold as investors await the outcome from the latest Fed and BOJ meetings. "The Mighty Fed's decision this week will likely lay the groundwork for dollar fortunes through 2016," said Stephen Innes, a senior trader for Asia Pacific at OANDA. In the currency market, the dollar retreated against a basket of currencies on Wednesday, with the dollar index down 0.15 percent at 94.430, compared with its last close of 94.573. The Japanese yen traded at 111.13 to the dollar, compared with the 110 handle it touched Tuesday afternoon local time and the near-112 level it was at late last week. Boris Schlossberg, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, said, "With Japanese officials backing off any promises for further stimulus, the pair has started to unwind some of its large gains from last Friday." He added if the Fed hinted at a possible June hike, the "move in dollar/yen could quickly propel the pair toward prior range highs around the 114 figure." Major Japanese exporters were mostly lower, with shares of Toyota down 1.88 percent, Nissan down 1.05 percent and Honda off by 1.64 percent. Overnight advances in oil prices seemed to have been "enough to lend some support to the commodity currencies," according to David de Garis, director and senior economist at the National Australia Bank. The Australian dollar initially traded around $0.7746 in early trade, compared with the $0.7698 level it briefly touched during Asian hours on Tuesday. But the Aussie dollar then fell 1.11 percent to $0.7661 as of 10:37 a.m. HK/SIN, after Australia's consumer prices unexpectedly fell, reviving talks of further easing from the Reserve Bank of Australia. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed headline consumer price index falling 0.2 percent in the first quarter compared with forecasts of a 0.3 percent increase, Reuters reported. Oil prices extended gains during Asian hours, after advancing overnight following reports of a drop in U.S. crude inventories. Global benchmark Brent crude futures were up 1.22 percent at $46.30 a barrel in Asian trade, while U.S. crude futures added 1.11 percent to $44.53. Reuters said the American Petroleum Institute reported a draw-down of nearly 1.1 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories last week, versus a 2.4 million-barrel build forecast by analysts in a poll. Energy plays in Asia mostly advanced, with shares of Santos advancing 3.03 percent, Oil Search up 1.01 percent, Inpex higher by 1.09 percent and Japan Petroleum adding 1.37 percent. Chinese mainland energy plays were also up, with shares of Sinopec advancing 1.59 percent. Stateside, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.07 percent, the S&P 500 finished 0.19 percent higher and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.15 percent. In after-hours trade, Nasdaq 100 futures initially fell more than 1 percent, following a sharp drop in Apple shares on disappointing earnings. The futures have since pared some losses and were trading down 0.47 percent at 8:17 a.m. HK/SIN. Apple shares fell more than 8 percent in after-hours trading, erasing more than $46 billion in market capitalization. The tech giant reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.90 per diluted share on $50.5 billion in revenue. Wall Street expected Apple to report earnings of about $2 a share on $51.9 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. During Asian hours, shares of major Apple suppliers mostly fell, with shares of Catcher Technology down 1.27 percent, Alps Electric down 2.35 percent and Murata Manufacturing down 4.13 percent. Shares of Nidec and Pegatron were higher, up 0.96 and 0.29 percent respectively.
