Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday amid increased expectations of another super-sized interest rate cut at the US Federal Reserve's November meeting. Chinese and Hong Kong shares gained by new measures from China's central bank - PBoC. The PBoC has slashed its medium term lending facility from 2.3% to 2%, marking the largest reduction of interest rates for one-year loans to financial institutions in history. Meanwhile, Seoul shares declined sharply as investors were disappointed with a new stock index to be launched next week. Japanese markets fell, even after the Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda indicated that the central bank has time to evaluate market and economic conditions before making any policy adjustments and signalling that there is no urgency to raise interest rates again.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 2,896.31 | 33.18 | 1.15 |
| Hang Seng | 19,129.10 | 128.54 | 0.67 |
| Jakarta Composite | 7,740.90 | -37.59 | -0.49 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,673.38 | 3.01 | 0.18 |
| Nikkei 225 | 37,870.26 | -70.33 | -0.19 |
| Straits Times | 3,583.27 | -39.47 | -1.10 |
| KOSPI Composite | 2,596.32 | -35.36 | -1.36 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 22,761.60 | 329.82 | 1.45 |
