Major indexes in Asia were mostly higher on Wednesday, after Moody's downgraded China's credit rating, and as investors awaited minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve and an upcoming meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
The Nikkei 225 jumped 129.7 points, or 0.7%, to 19,742.98
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 25.35 points, or 0.1%, to 25,428.50
In Japan, Toshiba's U.S. nuclear arm Westinghouse Electric announced it had negotiated a deal that would let the company borrow $800 million U.S. Toshiba shares surged 8.4% to close at 251.5 yen a share
Against the yen, the U.S. dollar edged higher for the second straight session to fetch 111.92.
Singapore-listed commodities trader Noble Group said it was aware of media reports that Sinochem had stopped pursuing a stake in the company, but was unable to confirm whether this was accurate.
Shares of Noble reversed steep losses earlier in the session to gain 11.9% at by late afternoon in Singapore. Trade in shares of the company had been halted in the last session after shares plunged more than 32%
Investors are also awaiting the release of minutes from the Fed's for its last meeting on Wednesday in the U.S. for details on the probability of a rate hike in June. More information is expected from the Fed on how it intends to unwind its balance sheet.
Another potentially market-moving event is the OPEC meeting on Thursday that will be led by Saudi Arabia. Oil prices have been rising on optimism over hopes that will be OPEC-led output cuts will be extended.
CHINA
Shanghai’s CSI 300 erased 0.02 points to 3,424.17. Markets in greater China were mixed following the ratings downgrade, but had recovered off the lows at the market open.
Moody's Investor Service downgraded China's credit rating to A1 from Aa3, and changed its outlook to stable from negative. While planned reforms in China will slow the increase in leverage in the economy, Moody’s cautioned, it will not prevent the rise in leverage.
The Australian dollar slipped from levels around $0.7480 to as low as $0.7452 in the wake of the announcement. China is among Australia's largest export markets.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index picked up 36.58 points, or 0.4%, to 10.044.42
In Korea, the Kospi index inched up 5.6 points, or 0.2%, to 2,317.34
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 8.55 points, or 0.3%, to 3,231.24
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 recovered 37.08 points, or 0.5%, to 7,421.78
In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 8.78 points, or 0.2%, to 5,768.98
