Asia stocks fall

Asian stocks were mostly lower and the dollar surged to a three-week high versus the yen after the US Federal Reserve ended its massive quantitative easing programme, as expected, but laced its economic assessment with a tinge of hawkishness. Spreadbetters expected a more stable start for Europe, forecasting an effectively flat open for Britain's FTSE .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC .FCHI. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.6 per cent. Tokyo rose 0.67 per cent, or 104.29 points, to 15,658.20. Sydney added 0.52 per cent, or 28.52 points, to 5,476.2, Shanghai finished 0.76 per cent, or 18.07 points, higher at 2,391.08. Seoul eased 0.11 per cent, or 2.24 points, lower at 1,958.93. Hong Kong gave up 0.49 per cent, or 117.83 points, to 23,702.04. The dollar hovered near a three-week peak of 109.145 yen JPY= after rallying nearly 0.7 per cent overnight in light of the Fed's statements, while the euro fell to a three-week trough of $1.2605 EUR=. The greenback benefitted as US Treasury yields surged, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield US10YT=RR spiking to a three-week high of 2.362 per cent as market participants pulled forward expectations of when the Fed would eventually raise interest rates, according to Reuters.