Asia higher as investors wait on Fed


Singapore's market is doing best in Asia on Tuesday, with the Straits Times index up about 2 percent

Staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian markets are mainly higher heading into Tuesday afternoon, with Tokyo's Nikkei up slightly but the Topix down.

Singapore is doing best, with its Straits Times index up more than 2 percent.

The Nikkei 225 average is 0.13 percent or 12.39 points higher at 9,760.21, buoyed by buying in tech shares.

The broader capital-weighted Topix is down just 1.26 points or 0.13 percent to 958.64.

Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea are up, but Taiwan and New Zealand are in the red.

Investors in the region are showing caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates later in the day.

There was little direction from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average finished Monday down 0.65 percent. The Nasdaq finished just into the black at 1306.84. (Full U.S. roundup)

Export-oriented stocks down


UFJ and other Japanese banks are lower Tuesday

There are also concerns over a firmer yen limiting the upside.

Export-oriented stocks such as Sony, Canon, Hitachi and automaker Toyota are down.

Canon is off 1.64 percent to 4190 yen. Fujitsu opened at a nine-year record low of 600 yen before recovering to 615 yen, up 1.65 percent.

Toyota, Japan's largest carmaker, gave up 1.63 percent to 3010 yen.

That reflected worries about the U.S. economy and the profit outlook for top exporters after the yen rose one percent against the greenback in U.S. trade.

"It's very quiet. In general institutional investors are not willing to move before the Fed makes its call," Koji Muneoka, head of domestic sales trading at HSBC Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Japanese mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo is down more than 1 percent to 278,000 yen. Big bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp slipped almost 2 percent; UFJ and Mizuho are also down.

Fed policymakers to meet

U.S. Fed policymakers gather on Tuesday to mull interest rates. Most economists expect them to keep borrowing costs at current four-decade lows, although a few analysts reckon the central bank will cut rates to give the U.S. economy a boost.

In Seoul, the Kospi is up about 1 percent to 702.24. Many of its biggest companies depend on the U.S. market for part of their sales and so are subject to exchange rate pressure and any U.S. slowdown.

Market heavyweights Samsung Electronics is up 1 percent to 320,000 won and SK Telecom is 2.5 percent higher at 225,500 won.

Other gainers include fixed-line telco KT Corp, steelmaker Posco and big bank Kookmin Bank.

But Hyundai Motor, Korea's biggest automaker, eased 2.3 percent to 32,050 won.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is 10.7 points or 0.34 percent higher at 3114.7 in early afternoon trade.

News, big banks higher

Media group News Corp., which accounts for about 9 percent of the index, is up 1.86 percent to A$9.84.

Big banks NAB, CBA, ANZ and Westpac are also higher, but resources leader BHP Billiton is down more than 2.1 percent to A$9.05.

AurionGold, the target of a takeover bid by Canada's Placer Dome, is down 1.2 percent to A$3.23 after reporting a profit lift. (Full Story)

Telco giant Telstra is also lower, down 1 percent to A$4.76.

Singapore's market is powering ahead, with strong gains by banking leaders DBS and UOB, both up about 3 percent.

SingTel is up 2.7 percent to S$1.54.

The Straits Times index is up 2 percent to 1517.13.

In Taipei, the Taiex is off 17 points or 0.35 percent to 4835.07.

Taiwan's two biggest stocks, chip foundries TSMC and UMC are unchanged at T$50.50 and T$29.00. In the industrial sector, Formosa Plastic is up 0.75 percent to T$40.10.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is up about a quarter of a percent to 9983 in late morning trade.

Reuters contributed to this report.