Asian Shares Jittery At Wednesday Close

Stock markets in Asia closed Wednesday with a case of the jitters amid concerns over inflation and possible US interest rates hikes on the horizon.

Markets are closely watching the US Federal Reserve to see whether pressure from rising inflation will drive it to raise its benchmark interest rate.

The tension between China and the US over Taiwan is also being followed closely by investors.

China's central bank signaling it might ease measures to help the economy recover in the face of relatively slow growth and rising producer prices helped the country's stock market.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, lost 24.93 points, or 0.63%, to close at around 3,822 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange was down 471.45 points, or 1.58%, to 29,302.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, rose 34 points, or 0.14%, to 24,685.

China's Shanghai stock exchange rose 3.61 points, or 0.10%, to 3,592 points, and the Indian Sensex benchmark was down 75.14 points, or 0.13%, to close at 58,589 points.

Meanwhile, the Singapore index fell 2.85 points, or 0.09%, to 3,230.​​​​​​​ -