Global stocks mixed as rate hike fears loom large

Beijing: Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's announcement of how sharply it will raise interest rates to cool U.S. inflation.

Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced. Tokyo and Sydney declined. Oil prices edged higher. Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.4 per cent on Tuesday as traders waited for a Fed rate hike they expect to be three-quarters of a percentage point, or triple the usual margin.

They worry that aggressive Fed action to cool inflation that is running at a four-decade high might tip the biggest global economy into recession. A "hawkish surprise" from the Fed could be a "further shock to risk assets," said Anderson Alves of ActivTrades in a report. "Money markets are already pricing around 90 per cent possibility of such action."

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.1 per cent to 3,323.64 after the Chinese government reported factory output rebounded into positive territory in May as anti-virus controls that shut down businesses in Shanghai and other industrial centers eased. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.2 per cent to 21,312.67 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.7 per cent to 26,435.01.