Asia: Stocks rise after Fed meeting but stronger yen hurts Japan

Most Asian stocks reacted positively to the Fed meeting, but Japan's Nikkei was hit by a weaker dollar.

The Fed on late Wednesday removed the term “patience” with regard to interest rates but said it would wait until it saw further improvement in the labour market before raising it from its record low of 0%.

The Shanghai composite index rose 0.14% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.45%, but the Japanese Nikkei 225 fell 0.35%.

The fall was despite a better-than-expected industry activity index data for January, which rose 1.9% after a decrease of 0.3% the month before and better than expectations of a 1.7% grow.

The yen strengthened to ¥120.54 against the dollar following the Fed meeting.

Australia's ASX followed the lead of the majority of the Asian markets and gained 1.86%. That came as analysts continued to speculate that an interest rate cut was imminent.

In corporate news, Australian bank Westpac was up 2.66% after BNZ appointed the bank as its new partner. The partnership will take effect from May. BHP Billiton also gained 1.26% as it raised $1bn in debt on the Australian bond market.

Meanwhile in China, CSR, a manufacturer of electric locomotives, was up 3.75% but Hong Kong's athletic shoes and sporting goods maker Li Ning fell 11.6% after suffering a third annual loss due to restructuring costs.

Gold prices rose 2% overnight on Wednesday, receiving their largest boost since January.

Friday would mark a change in the gold market price fix for the first time in almost a century. London’s near century-old gold fix will be replaced by an electronic system run by ICE. The move could give better insight to investors on Chinese demand for the precious metal.

Lastly, in a research note e-mailed to clients analysts at JPMorgan said China could move to cut its reserve requirement ratio as soon as April.