Asian stocks were higher Wednesday as a rebound in crude-oil prices lifted Inpex Holdings and other energy shares [dictated by the US Markey Rally tuesday] while Toyota Motor Corp. touched a new all-time high, although broader gains in Japanese blue-chips were limited ahead of a slew of earnings reports due later in the day.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average ended the morning session up 0.1% to 16,802.54. The broader Topix index ended nearly flat at 1,662.19.
Shares of Toyota rose 1% to 7,100 yen, after closing above 7,000 yen for the first time in the previous session. On Tuesday the automaker announced global production surged 8.7% in the six-month, April-to-September period from the same period a year ago.
Elsewhere around Asia, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%. Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 0.5% and Taiwan's Weighted Price Index reversed early gains to trade lower 0.2%. South Korea's Kopsi was up 0.4% and Shanghai's Composite Index was up 0.7%. Markets in Malaysia were closed for a public holiday.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.2% to 18,117.06. The China Enterprises Index traded nearly flat at 7,495.14.
"The market is waiting for the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting" said Philip Chan, research director at CSC Securities in Hong Kong. "The focus will be on the accompanying statement and whether the Fed expects further inflation pressure or whether it expects inflation pressure is well contained; depending on the statement, the market expectation on the interest rate outlook could change substantially."
Chan added rate-sensitive property shares were under pressure owing to uncertainty over interest-rate outlook.
U.S. Federal Reserve policy makers will conclude their two-day meeting later today. The Fed is widely expected to hold the fed-funds rate unchanged at 5.25%.
Shares of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. were up 0.2%. Leading industrial blue-chips Honda, NEC Electronics and Sharp Corp., among others, were due to report earnings in Japan Wednesday.
Inpex Holdings (JP:1605: news, chart, profile) , Japan's largest oil-development company, rose 1.3% while Australian oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum (AU:WPL: news, chart, profile) advanced 1.3%.
Shares of the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton, rose 0.7% a day after reporting a quarterly slump in production of copper and other metals owing mainly to a strike at its Chilean operations.
Shares of Nippon Steel Corp. (JP:5401: news, chart, profile) were up 0.8% after the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said the group is on track to report better-than-expected earnings on booming sales of specialized steel products to the automotive industry.
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