A man walks past an electronic board of a local bank showing the Hong Kong share index in Hong Kong on Sept. 10, 2014. Asian markets mostly rose Thursday, Sept. 18, while the dollar rallied after the Federal Reserve stuck to its timetable on hiking interest rates but indicated they could rise more sharply than initially envisaged. AP PHOTO/VINCENT YU
HONG KONG–Asian markets mostly rose Thursday while the dollar rallied after the Federal Reserve stuck to its timetable on hiking interest rates but indicated they could rise more sharply than initially envisaged.
The central bank’s statement that its federal funds rate would remain low for “some considerable time” fanned a rally on Wall Street, with the Dow ending at a record high.
Tokyo surged 1.13 percent, or 178.90 points, to 16,067.57 thanks to the weaker yen, but Sony plunged after warning of another huge loss this financial year.
Sydney edged up 0.16 percent, or 8.5 points, to 5,415.8 and Shanghai gained 0.35 percent, or 8.04 points, to 2,135.93.
However, Seoul shed 0.72 percent, or 14.87 points, to close at 2,047.74 while Hong Kong gave up most of Wednesday’s gains, slipping 0.85 percent, or 207.69 points, to 24,168.72.
After a closely watched meeting, the Fed said Wednesday it would stick to its steady-as-she-goes policy on interest rates, keeping them at a record low of 0-0.25 percent despite growing calls for a rise as the economy strengthens.
Markets had been on the watch for a change in its language, which could have signaled a rate hike before the mid-2015 timeline currently in place.
Bank chief Janet Yellen continued with her line that there remains too much slack in the jobs market even as the US unemployment rate has fallen to 6.1 percent.
“There is relatively little change in the assessment of the outlook by the participants in this meeting,” she said at a news conference. “There is significant under-utilization of labor resources.”
However, it did suggest that when rates eventually increase, they could end next year higher than initially estimated.
Wall Street cheered the prospect of six or more months of easy money. The Dow rose 0.15 percent to a new record, the S&P 500 gained 0.13 percent to end just short of its own all-time high and the Nasdaq edged up 0.21 percent.
Eyes on Scotland vote
And the likelihood of higher interest rates down the line also boosted the dollar. In Asian trade the greenback bought 108.61 yen, near its highest level since September 2008, against 108.29 yen in New York.
The euro bought $1.2883 and 139.92 yen against $1.2865 and 139.32 yen.
The news also sent the dollar up against emerging market currencies, with Indonesia’s rupiah, Korea’s won, and the Singapore dollar and Taiwan dollar all suffering.
The British pound was also in focus on the day Scotland holds its independence referendum. While the vote is still too close to call, there are fears that a vote to break away from the United Kingdom will slash around 10 percent off sterling and hammer the economy.
However, in afternoon exchanges the pound was sitting at $1.6298, compared with $1.6280 in New York, as the “No” camp went into the day marginally ahead in opinion polls.
On oil markets US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery dipped 30 cents to $94.12 while Brent crude for November eased 47 cents to $98.50 in afternoon trade.
Gold was at $1,223.70 an ounce, against $1,237.41 an ounce late Wednesday.
In other markets:
— Mumbai surged 1.81 percent, or 480.92 points, to end at 27,112.21.
Unitech climbed 12.85 percent to 25.90 rupees, while Britannia Industries fell 2.35 percent to 1,417.80 rupees.
— Bangkok rose 0.87 percent, or 13.59 points, to 1,584.23.
Bangkok Bank was unchanged at 211 baht, while Siam Cement dropped 2 baht, or 0.44 percent, to 456 baht.
— Kuala Lumpur’s main index ended flat on Thursday at 1,845.32 points, a gain of 1.54 points, or 0.08 percent.
Banking group AMMB Holdings closed at 6.86 ringgit, a gain of 2.08 percent, while infrastructure conglomerate YTL added 1.20 percent to end at 1.68 ringgit.
— Singapore closed up 0.02 percent, or 0.81 points, to 3,297.29.
Oil rig maker Keppel Corp. fell 0.19 percent to Sg$10.55, while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rose 0.72 percent to Sg$9.79.
— Jakarta ended up 0.38 percent, or 19.96 points, at 5,208.14.
Miner Aneka Tambang gained 0.44 percent at 1,145 rupiah, while telecommunications network and services provider Indosat lost 0.75 percent at 3,950 rupiah.
— Manila rose 0.77 percent, or 55.45 points, to 7,287.29.
Top-traded Philippine Long Distance Telephone fell 0.06 percent to 3,302 pesos, while Globe Telecom was unchanged at 1,888 pesos, SM Prime Holdings gained 3.75 percent to 17.70 pesos.
— Taipei rose 0.46 percent, or 41.86 points, to 9,237.03.
Hon Hai climbed 0.99 percent to Tw$102.0 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was 0.4 percent higher at Tw$125.0.
— Wellington added 0.23 percent, or 11.84 points, to 5,154.18.