Stocks rise across Asia ahead of Fed announcement

Stocks rose on Asian markets on Wednesday, hours before the Federal Reserve was expected to make the biggest interest rate announcement in almost a decade.

The Nikkei Stock Average closed up 2.61%, Seoul's Kospi was up 1.9% and the S&P/ASX 200 was up 2.42%.
In China, the Shanghai Composite increased marginally - up 0.17% - and the technology-heavy Shenzhen index rose 0.68%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.01%.

It came as no surprise that energy stocks led the Chinese gains. On Tuesday, officials announced they would stop forcibly adjusting petrol and diesel prices on the domestic market - albeit temporarily - which was widely tipped to lead to price rises for consumers.

Sinopec gained 10.1% on the Hong Kong market, and PetroChina was up 6.1%.

On the corporate side of things, Noble Group shares leapt more than 12% after the firm announced it was talking with possible buyers for its 49% holding in its agriculture commodities unit.

Cofco - a state-backed Chinese firm - purchased the 51% stake last year, and the Wall Street Journal reported it was one of the leading bidders for the remaining 49% still held by Noble.

The luxury goods market continues to face challenges in Asia, with Prada losing 6.95% in Hong Kong. It earlier posted a 26% drop in net profit for the first nine months of the year.

In the South Pacific, New Zealand's current account deficit continued to widen, with the country's statistics office revealing a figure of NZD$4.75bn (USD$3.21bn) at the end of the third quarter.

In the second quarter, it stood at a comparatively narrow NZD$1.17bn. New Zealand's debt position at the end of September was 56.1% of GDP.

At the end of the trading day, markets were waiting for Janet Yellen's all-important interest rates announcement, where she is expected to confirm the first rise in US interest rates since 2006.

"We do not think the Fed will be distracted by recent US credit-market stress. The bar for the Fed not to hike is sizeable. Market volatility has stayed contained and stocks have remained resilient", said Standard Chartered economists in a research report.

Data from the CME Group showed Federal Reserve fund futures as reflecting an 81% probability of a rate rise after the Fed meeting finishes later on Wednesday.

On the currency market, the yen was sitting at USD$0.00820 and the Aussie was at USD$0.71897 at 11:35 GMT on Wednesday.