Asian shares mostly up after Fed decision

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly rose Thursday while the dollar rallied after the Federal Reserve stuck to its timetable on hiking interest rates but indicated they could rise more sharply than initially envisaged.

The central bank´s statement that its federal funds rate would remain low for "some considerable time" fanned a rally on Wall Street, with the Dow ending at a record high.

Tokyo surged 1.13 percent, or 178.90 points, to 16,067.57 thanks to the weaker yen, but Sony plunged after warning of another huge loss this financial year.

Sydney edged up 0.16 percent, or 8.5 points, to 5,415.8 and Shanghai gained 0.35 percent, or 8.04 points, to 2,135.93.However, Seoul shed 0.72 percent, or 14.87 points, to close at 2,047.74 while Hong Kong gave up all Wednesday´s gains to sit 1.05 percent lower in the afternoon.

After a closely watched meeting, the Fed said Wednesday it would stick to its steady-as-she-goes policy on interest rates, keeping them at a record low of 0-0.25 percent despite growing calls for a rise as the economy strengthens.

Markets had been on the watch for a change in its language, which could have signalled a rate hike before the mid-2015 timeline currently in place.

Bank chief Janet Yellen continued with her line that there remains too much slack in the jobs market even as the US unemployment rate has fallen to 6.1 percent.

"There is relatively little change in the assessment of the outlook by the participants in this meeting," she said at a news conference. "There is significant under-utilisation of labour resources.

"However, it did suggest that when rates eventually increase, they could end next year higher than initially estimated.

Wall Street cheered the prospect of six or more months of easy money. The Dow rose 0.15 percent to a new record, the S&P 500 gained 0.13 percent to end just short of its own all-time high and the Nasdaq edged up 0.21 percent.