Asia stocks to focus on oil, Fed meeting
Lower oil prices may help underpin Asian stock markets this week as worries about inflation ease, but further direction is expected to come from the outcome of the Federal Reserves policy-setting meeting.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday following recent evidence of slower U.S. growth, while investors will be on the look-out for clues to future rate moves.
Still, worries about slower global growth mean any market gains may be limited, some analysts say.
More : za.today.reuters.com
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STOCKS NEWS ASIA-Markets mixed, commodity stocks shine
Asian stock markets were mixed on Tuesday but commodity companies such as global miner BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) and energy developer INPEX Holdings (1605.T: Quote, Profile, Research) rose on the back of a surge in metals and oil prices.
Copper and zinc set record highs and U.S. crude rallied 2 percent towards $69 a barrel on Monday, while gold jumped above $600 an ounce to levels last seen in December 1980. Oil was at $68.68 in early Asian trade.
By 0025 GMT, Tokyo stocks < .N225> were flat, up 0.01 percent,
East Asia summit concludes
New Zealand was pleased to have taken part in the inaugural East Asia Summit on an equal footing with its regional neighbours, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today.
The summit, which concluded in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, was attended by Prime Minister Helen Clark and Leaders from the 10 Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) countries, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) and Australia, New Zealand and India.
Winston Peters attended a pre-summit Foreign Ministers meeting to lay the groundwork for the leaders' meeting. A key focus of the meeting was to finalise the East Asia
Asia-Pacific climate partnership a ground-breaking model: Australia
Australian Prime Minister John Howard and senior officials said Thursday that attendants of the inaugural meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate have agreed on a "ground-breaking new model for international climate change and energy collaboration."
Ministers and business leaders from the six partners, namely, Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States ended a two-day meeting here Thursday with the focus on developing cleaner energy technologies so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The six partners represent almost half of world GDP, energy consumption, greenhouse
Tokyo stocks decline before BoJ; elsewhere mixed
Asian shares ended mixed to lower Tuesday as investors bowed out of equities amid growing apprehension about interest rates before a two-day Bank of Japan rate meeting that starts on Thursday.
The Nikkei 225 Average (JP:1804610: news, chart, profile) ended down 0.5% at 15,473.82. Industrials lost ground, while technology issues climbed back from sharp loses at the start. Analysts said the Nikkeis sharp gains in the previous session set the stage for profit taking as traders were unwilling to make big bets ahead of the central bank meeting. The broader Topix index of Tokyo-listed shares
Asia-Europe summit to focus on Burma
Global security issues, including joint Asia-Europe counter-terror measures, nuclear tensions with North Korea and failed international efforts to end military rule in Burma will head the agenda of next weeks Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held in Helsinki.
The September 10-11 gathering, bringing together leaders from 13 Asian and 25 European Union states - plus the European Commission - is also expected to take decisions on widening ASEM membership to bring in more Asian and European states.
The EU wants its future members Bulgaria and Romania to join ASEM while India, Pakistan, East Timor as
