QAN Qantas Airways Ltd

Asian equity markets were mixed Wednesday morning as traders braced for tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve, broadly weakening regional currencies against the U.S. dollar.

The Nikkei Stock Average traded 0.5% higher, moderating early gains made on the back of a weaker yen. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1%, while the South Korea Kospi was down 0.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite Index was roughly flat.

Despite the yen's slight weakening on Wednesday, the dollar-yen currency won't likely move much until Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen makes her remarks in Jackson Hole, Wyo., at the Fed's annual meeting, Mizuho Securities Chief FX Strategist Kengo Suzuki says in a note.

Among stocks in Japan, Sony Corp. gained 1.7% after the Japanese electronics giant said it would raise the price of its PlayStation Plus service, weeks before unveiling two new versions of its flagship videogame console.

Japanese automobile stocks also rose as any tightening by the Fed would push the dollar higher, making then yen weaker and Japanese exports more competitive. Toyota Motor Corp. was up 1.8% and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. traded 2.2% higher.

In Australia, Qantas Airways Ltd. gained 2.5% after it reported record profits for the full fiscal year. The airline operator said it would pay an ordinary dividend of 7 Australian cents a share, its first such payment since 2009.

"Qantas remains very cheap in our view and the resumption of dividends demonstrates management's confidence in the outlook going forward," Macquarie said in a note Wednesday.

Meanwhile, oil prices were down in Asian trade early Wednesday, after the industry group American Petroleum Institute said its data showed an increase of 4.5 million barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. Still, prices rose in U.S. trade Tuesday on speculation that Iran might cooperate with other global exporters to keep oil prices from falling.

Official U.S. oil data by the Energy Information Administration will be released later Wednesday to shed more light on the state of U.S. stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate crude prices were recently down 44 cents at $47.65 a barrel in Asia trade, while Brent crude prices were down 36 cents at $49.60 a barrel.

Oil-exporting Malaysia's ringgit weakened against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday. The ringgit has been pressured of late, along with other Asian currencies, on the view the Fed is veering toward tightening. High U.S. interest rates would pull money out of Asian markets and back to the U.S., weakening regional currencies in the process. The dollar-ringgit pair was last at 4.0360, up from its Tuesday closing of 4.0250.

Hiroyuki Kachi, Kosaku Narioka, Jenny Hsu and David Winning contributed to this article.

Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 24, 2016 00:05 ET (04:05 GMT)

Grafico Azioni Qantas Airways (ASX:QAN)
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