Asian markets mostly slip after Bernanke comments

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell on Wednesday after US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned of a further slowdown in the US economy and a "frustratingly slow" rise in employment.

Hong Kong was down 0.71 percent, Sydney shed 0.45 percent, Seoul eased 0.89 percent and Shanghai lost 0.18 percent, but Tokyo gained 0.21 percent by the break.

In testimony to Congress Bernanke offered a gloomy outlook for the United States, warning that after growth of around just two percent in January-March, "available indicators point to a still-smaller gain in the second quarter".

"Given that growth is projected to be not much above the rate needed to absorb new entrants into the labour force, the reduction in the unemployment rate seems likely to be frustratingly slow," he added.

The comments weighed on already nervous traders, who have also been hit by ongoing concerns over the eurozone and weakness in the Chinese economy.

But Tokyo managed to eke out small gains after a positive close on Wall Street, where investors seemed to focus on the prospects for further stimulus measures from the Fed.

The Dow gained 0.62 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.74 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.45 percent.

The Nikkei was also given support by minutes from the Bank of Japan, which showed some board members at the latest policy board meeting said it "should not dismiss any policy options" to mitigate risks caused by Europe's debt crisis.

That could be taken to indicate further monetary easing in Japan.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was hit by a big fall in HSBC, its single largest constituent, after the top executive in charge of the bank's anti-money laundering programmes resigned following a Senate probe into risky practices.