Asia markets were mixed in early trade on Wednesday, ahead of key central bank decisions from the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in the next 48 hours.

Australia's benchmark ASX 200 was up 0.45 percent, led by advances in the financials, energy and materials subindexes. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 initially advanced 0.25 percent before giving up gains to trade flat, while across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was down 0.12 percent.

Stateside, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.07 percent, the S&P 500 finished 0.19 percent higher and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.15 percent.

In after-hours trade, Nasdaq 100 futures fell more than 1 percent, following a sharp drop in Apple shares on disappointing earnings. The futures have since pared some losses and were trading down 0.47 percent at 8:17 a.m. HK/SIN.

Apple shares fell more than 8 percent in after-hours trading, erasing more than USD 46 billion in market capitalisation.

The tech giant reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of USD 1.90 per diluted share on USD 50.5 billion in revenue. Wall Street expected Apple to report earnings of about USD 2 a share on USD 51.9 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Oil prices extended gains during Asian hours, after advancing overnight following reports of a drop in US crude inventories.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures were up 1.14 percent at USD 46.26 a barrel in early Asian trade, while US crude futures added 1.20 percent to USD 44.57.

Reuters said the American Petroleum Institute reported a drawdown of nearly 1.1 million barrels in US crude inventories last week, versus a 2.4 million-barrel build forecast by analysts in a poll.

Energy plays in Asia saw early gains, with shares of Santos advancing 3.15 percent, Oil Search up 0.72 percent, Inpex higher by 1.52 percent and Japan Petroleum adding 1.82 percent.

The upward reversal in oil prices seemed to have been "enough to lend some support to the commodity currencies," according to David de Garis, director and senior economist at the National Australia Bank.

The Australian dollar traded at $0.7746 at 8:25 a.m. HK/SIN, compared to the USD 0.7698 level it briefly touched during Asian hours on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, the Japanese yen traded at 111.16 to the dollar, compared to the 110 handle it touched Tuesday afternoon local time and the near-112 level it was at late last week.

Boris Schlossberg, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, said traders were awaiting monetary policy decisions from both the Federal Open Market Committee and the BOJ this week.

"With Japanese officials backing off any promises for further stimulus the pair has started to unwind some of its large gains from last Friday," said Schlossberg, adding the market was also awaiting hints from the Fed about a potential rate hike in June.

"If the Fed actually hints at such a course of action the move in dollar/yen could quickly propel the pair toward prior range highs around the 114.00 figure."

Share Market Live

NSE

First Published:Apr 27, 2016 8:44 AM IST