ASIA MIDDAY MOVES | Taiwan and Tokyo Firm While Hong Kong Slips After Fed's First Rate Hike in Three Years

According to RTHK, Sina Finance and Reuters, Asian equities were mixed at midday on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve delivered its first interest-rate increase in more than three years overnight, a quarter-point move whose hawkish tilt signaled one further hike this year and pushed the dollar to a seven-week high; the Bank of Japan is widely expected to raise rates on Friday. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 held modest gains, trading at 64,233.46, up 0.49% or 310.46 points as of 04:31 UTC, after opening more than 700 points higher and giving back most of the advance before noon. Chip-related names were mixed, with Tokyo Electron down 1.64% at 50,840 yen and Advantest off 0.75%, while Sony added 0.81%. Seoul's KOSPI advanced 0.73% to 6,767.15 as of 04:31 UTC. Samsung Electronics rose 0.49% to 254,750 won and SK Hynix edged up 0.11% to 1,761,000 won. Hong Kong stocks eased, with the Hang Seng Index at 24,533.46, down 0.73% or 180.32 points as of 04:31 UTC; the Hang Seng Tech Index shed 0.76% at the half-day, weighed by utility, property and technology shares. Tencent fell 1.29% to HK$427.80, Meituan lost 2.35% to HK$72.70, Alibaba slipped 1.04% to HK$105.10 and Xiaomi eased 0.84% to HK$25.96. Taiwan's TAIEX outperformed, rising 1.30% to 46,446.10 as of 04:31 UTC. TSMC gained 2.10% to NT$2,430.00, MediaTek added 0.99% and Hon Hai rose 1.61%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite eased 0.36% to 3,877.46 and the CSI 300 fell 0.36% to 4,463.99 as of 04:31 UTC, with both Shanghai and Shenzhen gauges lower at the half-day close.