Asian stocks mixed ahead of Fed rate announcement

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday following overnight gains on Wall Street as investors looked ahead to a likely U.S. interest rate hike.

KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite Index was unchanged at 3,279.43 while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.3 percent to 22,805.80. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent to 28,925.73 and Seoul's Kospi advanced 0.4 percent to 2,471.74. Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 was unchanged at 6,015.00. Benchmarks in New Zealand and Singapore declined while Taiwan and other Southeast Asian bourses were higher.

WALL STREET: Big-name companies gained, delivering records for two of the major stock indexes. Banks and other financial stocks led the gainers as the Fed met to discuss interest rates.