Asia: Stocks rise ahead of Fed policy decision

Asian stocks ended higher on Wednesday ahead of the US Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

The Fed is expected to keep interest rates unchanged when it announces its decision at 18:00 GMT. However, forward guidance will be in focus given recent speculation that policymakers will drop the term 'patient' when referring to the first rate hike.

Shanghai composite index continued to rise by 2.13% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng turned marginally positive by 0.91% as investors speculated about policy measures and the evolving stance of Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

However, Chinese housing data remains lacklustre as the house price index fell 5.7% in February, following on from a drop on 5.1% the month before.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.55% on hopes of further stimulus in the economy and returns to shareholders.

In terms of data, Japanese exports rose 2.4% year-on-year in February, beating expectations of a slower pace at 0.3%.

Merchandise trade balance came in at a better-than-expected ¥-424.6b in February from ¥-1,177.5b the months before.

Australia's ASX was flat a day after gaining with news that the central bank admitted the economy may need a further interest rate cut towards April as it is expanding a slow pace.

In corporate news, shares in Japan's Nintendo rose 21.3% after it announced a tie-up with mobile developer DeNA to create new games for smartphones.

Elsewhere, China Telecom rose 1.47% despite reporting a lower-than-expected annual profit of ¥17.68b due to strong competition and a new tax imposed during the period.

Chinese energy giant CNOOC said on Wednesday its Nexen subsidiary will cut 400 jobs in its UK and North American operations due to the fall in oil prices, which has affected its business.

"While regrettable, these organizational changes are necessary to align the company with our reduced capital spending programme," said Nexen chief executive Fang Zhi.