Asian markets fell Wednesday before the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision, with Japanese stocks retreating as the yen strengthened and Australian shares pulling back from near five-year highs.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 61.51 points, or 0.4%, to 13,799.35
Trading volumes were light as many regional markets were closed for Labour Day or other local holidays — including those in mainland China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. Investors were also cautious ahead key central-bank meetings this week.
For Japanese stocks, the weak start to May followed a spectacular performance in April, when the Nikkei Average surged nearly 12% to tower over other regional benchmarks, driven by hopes an aggressive monetary policy would weaken the yen and boost corporate profits.
Among the major movers in Tokyo on Wednesday, shares of Sharp Corp. tumbled 5% after the Nikkei newspaper reported the company may suffer a bigger net loss than it had forecast for the last financial year ended March 31.
Several other exporters also retreated as the U.S. dollar traded lower against the yen for much of the Japanese session.
Shares of Nissan Motor Co. lost 1.7%, and Canon Inc. gave up 1.6%.
Airline stocks retreated on worries about the financial impact from the Boeing Dreamliner jet fleet. Japan Airlines Co. lost 4.4%, and ANA Holdings Co. shed 1.4%.
The drop came even as ANA reported a 53% jump in annual profits. Tuesday, while Japan Airlines posted a better-than-forecast annual profit of ¥171.67 billion after nearly three years in bankruptcy.
Daihatsu Motor Co. shed 0.4% following a Nikkei newspaper report that the company has missed out on sales of 17,000 units of a new compact car due to delays by the Indonesian government.
In Sydney, resource-sector stocks remained downbeat after the Chinese PMI data, with diversified mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd. off 1.6% and iron-ore producer Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. 0.6% lower.
Banks retreated a day after strong results from Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. pushed the sector sharply higher.
ANZ shares were down 0.5%, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia gave up 0.7%
In other markets;
The New Zealand Exchange 50 docked 11.35 points, or 0.3%, to 4,603.02
Australia’s S&P/ASX slid 25.04 points, or 0.5%, to 5,166.81
