Asian markets mostly up ahead of US Fed meeting

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly rose Monday, as a weak batch of US economic data provided hope the Federal Reserve would put off announcing any winding down of its vast stimulus scheme at the end of a policy meeting this week.

The gains came despite a soft lead from Wall Street while the dollar edged up after suffering a sell-off on Friday in New York.

Tokyo rose 1.30 percent, climbing for a second successive session after plunging more than six percent on Thursday, while Hong Kong gained 1.10 percent, Sydney was flat, Seoul was 0.24 percent higher and Shanghai lost 0.20 percent.

Global markets have see-sawed in recent weeks on expectations the Fed will soon start to reel in its $85-billion-a-month stimulus that has been credited with fuelling a stocks rally since September.

The selling pressure intensified on Tuesday when the Bank of Japan held off unveiling any more of its own easing measures.

However, the latest figures out of Washington on Friday suggest the economy is still too weak for the Fed to turn off the tap, with analysts saying it is unlikely this week will see any such announcements.

Industrial production came in flat last month, there was a decline in the much-watched University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, and producer prices registered just a modest gain in May.