By Kenan Machado

Apple earnings boost Taiwan stocks

Japan's bigger-than-expected stimulus package failed to lift shares in Asia beyond its home market Wednesday, as China warned against speculative trade.

The Nikkei Stock Average rose as much as 2.7% during the session, before paring gains to close up 1.7%.

A report citing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as saying that the planned economic stimulus will be more than double the amount expected by the market, as well as plans by the Bank of Japan to issue 50-year bonds for the first time (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-boldly-considers-issuing-50-year-bonds-2016-07-26), lifted broad buying interest in local equities.

Nonetheless, the earlier rise in the yen dampened any joy from robust earnings.

Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (4901.TO) reported a 54% on-year decline in its fiscal first-quarter net income, after the yen's strength drained Yen8.3 billion from its profits. Still, the stock ended the day up 2.0%.

On Wednesday, the yen against rival currencies amid changing expectations from the soon-to-be released stimulus steps. The yen was last trading lower, with the dollar at Yen105.62.

"The movement of the yen has far greater fallout (impact on Asian markets) than the stimulus," said Daniel Morris, senior investment strategist at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.

The stimulus news in Japan did little to lift demand for stocks in other markets. Australia's S&P ASX/200 was flat, South Korea's Kospi .1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended up 0.4%. Taiwan's Taiex was also up 0.4% as its mobile-component makers benefited from Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) earnings.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite lost as much as 3.6% on Wednesday, before recovering to close down 1.9%, after regulators adopted a tougher stance against speculative trading in some themed stocks. Also, China's securities regulator warned of risks to its citizens from investing in overseas stocks through online brokerage firms.

"China is trying to limit the ways in which the capital can leak through, said Alex Wijaya, a Senior Sales Trader at CMC Markets. But "it is kind of hard to differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate operators," he said about the crackdown on online brokers.

For now, the market's attention will be on the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision later Wednesday, as well as the Bank of Japan monetary policy decision Friday. Any move by the BOJ is more important to Asia than any fiscal stimulus package, said BNP Paribas's Morris.

Read:Why the Fed won't hike rates despite having its 'ducks' in a row (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-fed-wont-hike-rates-despite-having-its-ducks-in-a-row-2016-07-26)

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2016 05:19 ET (09:19 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.