Asian shares up ahead of Federal Reserve decision

Asian markets rose on Wednesday following a lead from Wall Street ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on its stimulus programme and as tensions over emerging markets eased. The Nikkei clawed back some of its losses as the yen sank against the dollar, with confidence picking up after the central banks of India and Turkey hiked interest rates to counter a sell-off in their currencies. Tokyo climbed 1.74 percent by the break, Hong Kong added 1.01 percent, Sydney gained 0.54 percent, Shanghai was 0.39 percent higher and Seoul was up 0.73 percent. Taipei was closed for a public holiday. With the stability of emerging economies back on the agenda, dealers are waiting to find out what the Fed plans to do with its stimulus programme. Last month the Fed said it would reduce the bond-buying by $10 billion a month to $75 billion from January, citing an improved US economy. While it has been credited with fuelling an investment boom in developing countries, there are fears that the removal of the cheap cash will lead to huge capital outflows. Those fears were brought into focus last week when Argentina's peso slumped 14 percent against the dollar, leading to a sell-off in other emerging nations' units such as Indonesia, India and Thailand. That in turn sent global markets tumbling. However, tensions were soothed slightly on Tuesday after India and then Turkey -- whose currencies have come under pressure -- hiked their borrowing rates. The Reserve Bank of India lifted its benchmark repo rate, at which it lends to commercial banks, by 25 basis points to 8.0 percent. Hours later Turkey hiked its overnight lending rate to 12 percent from 7.75 percent, according to AFP.