Asia shares slip after OECD cuts global growth outlook

HONG KONG:Asian markets mostly fell on Wednesday after the OECD cut its forecasts for global growth, citing the likely effect of any wind-down in the Federal Reserves stimulus programme.

The downbeat mood from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development announcement came despite Fed chief Ben Bernanke saying that the bank would keep its easy money policy in place for as long as needed.

Tokyo was 0.19 percent lower, Sydney fell 0.85 percent, Seoul lost 0.89 percent and Shanghai was down 0.11 percent while Hong Kong edged up 0.22 percent.

In a prepared speech Tuesday Bernanke gave no hint as to when the Fed would start reining in its $85 billion a month bond-buying scheme but said it was "committed to maintaining highly accommodative policies for as long as they are needed".

While the economy had made "significant progress" since the financial crisis, he said "we are still far from where we would like to be, and, consequently, it may be some time before monetary policy returns to more normal settings".

The remarks, at the National Economists Club annual dinner in Washington, were welcomed by traders as the "quantitative easing" (QE) has been credited with supporting global markets since it was introduced last September.

However, while dealers bet on a continuation of US easy money, the OECD warned that uncertainty around the future of the scheme had caused global risk.