Equities across Asia seesawed Wednesday as investors watched to see if Washington will craft a deal to raise the debt ceilingin time to meet Thursday’s deadline.
The Nikkei 225 index in Japan gained 25.60 points, or 0.2% to 14,467.14
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index sagged 108.19 points, or 0.5%, to 23,228.33
The U.S. Senate was due to convene at noon Wednesday after Senate leaders late Tuesday restarted their negotiations on reopening the government and lifting the debt ceiling. The new round of talks came after a plan by House Republicans to vote on their own proposal fell apart.
Australian stocks had turned higher as reports emerged that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were optimistic about reaching an agreement on a bill. The S&P/ASX 200 closed with a modest increase.
Major Treasury holders, namely Japan and China, are asking the U.S. administration "to find a clean solution" to the impasse, said Société Générale, adding that Japanese investors sold record amounts of foreign bonds in early October, the largest outflows since 2001.
In Hong Kong on Wednesday, stock in Hang Seng Index heavyweights HSBC Holdings PLC and China Mobile Ltd. each gave up 0.6%. Among the retail group, shares of Li & Fung Ltd. , a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. supplier, gave up 1.3%.
In Tokyo, shares of Softbank Corp. stood out, rising 2.1% amid news the mobile telecom was in talks to buy a stake in U.S. mobile-phone distributor Brightstar Corp. That move would follow Softbank’s agreement Tuesday to buy a 51% stake in Supercell, a Finnish mobile-game maker, for 150 billion yen ($1.52 billion U.S.).
Meanwhile, shares of Hong Kong Television Network Ltd. tumbled 32% after the Hong Kong government rejected the company’s application for a free-TV license. HKTV, which had invested in infrastructure and other efforts to win the license, said it will cut 320 employees.
But PCCW Ltd. and I-Cable Communications Ltd. each won free-TV licenses, prompting shares of I-Cable to more than double, and PCCW shares to climb 10%.
CHINA
Investors in Chinese assets were also awaiting Friday’s release of government data, including third-quarter gross domestic product.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 dropped 46.15 points, or 1.9%, to 2,421.37
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index subtracted 6.35 points, or 0.3%, to 2,034.61
Taiwan’s Taiex Index fell 35.70 points, or 0.4%, to 8,332.18
The Singapore Straits Times Index stepped forward 8.78 points, or 0.3%, to 3,174.03
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index took on 10.85 points, or 0.2%, to 4,758.77
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched up 3.76 points, or 0.1%, to 5,262.91
