Investing.com - Sydney gained but other Asian shares fell Wednesday despite strong Chinese data on growth, industrial output and retail sales.
The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.98%, while the Hang Seng index eased 0.41% and the Shanghai Composite slumped 2.40%. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.40%.
nvestors await the start of Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's two-day testimony before Congress on Wednesday for further indications on the timing of a highly-anticipated interest rate hike. On Friday, Yellen said the Fed anticipates raising interest rates later this year if the U.S. economy and labor markets continue to show improvement in the coming weeks.
China reported 7.0% year-on-year GDP growth in the second quarter, better than the 6.9% pace seen, while industrial output jumped 6.8% in June year-on-year, compared to a gain of 6.0% expected. Retail sales jumped 10.6%, better than the 10.2% increase seen in June.
Earlier, Australia's Westpac-MI Consumer Confidence survey for July fell 3.2% to 92.2, the lowest since December last year.
"Despite current market expectations we would also put a limited chance of a move in November," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said. "In fact we are comfortable to retain the view that rates
will remain on hold for the remainder of this year and throughout 2016."
The Bank of Japan voted 8 to 1 as expected on Wednesday to keep monetary policy steady as board member Takahide Kiuchi once again dissented and called for a cut in outright government bond buying by nearly half.
The board said exports and output were picking up even as consumer prices are nearly flat year-on-year. Kiuchi has called for trimming asset purchased by the BoJ to ¥45 trillion annually from ¥80 trillion set in October last year.
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's news conference is at 1530 (0630 GMT).
Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.42%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.66%.