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Japanese Cabinet approves economic stimulus package worth $275Bln

Sydney shed 0.8 percent, Seoul was 0.7 percent off and Singapore shed 0.9 percent and Manila 1.8 percent lower.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Tuesday down 0.49 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.64 per cent and the Nasdaq 0.9 per cent.

World stocks fell for a third straight day on Wednesday, depressed by growing nervousness surrounding central bank policy and the recent spike in world bond yields, although European bank shares rebounded after two major earnings reports.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 53 cents to $40.59 after settling at $40.06 a barrel in NY on Monday.

KEEPING SCORE: Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent to 6,667.31.

Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.9% as the rising yen pressured exporter stocks while financials slid 2.7%.

AUSTRALIAN RATE CUT: The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a record-low 1.5 percent on Tuesday, seeking to jolt the nation’s sluggish economy amid low inflation rates.

The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has strategically positioned the country for a global shift away from austerity measures and back on track for a lighter fiscal policy by launching the new 4.6 trillion yen ($45 Billion) stimulus which is meant to strengthen the now struggling Japanese economy.

Credit Suisse fell 5.6 per cent and Deutsche Bank 3.2 per cent after index provider STOXX said the two banks would be dropped from Europe’s STOXX Europe 50 index from next Monday.

Hong Kong’s stock exchange was shuttered as Typhoon Nida slammed the city with violent winds and torrential rain.

The package was approved after the Bank of Japan chose to take additional monetary easing at a policy meeting last week, Xinhua news agency reported.

“There’s quite a lot of scepticism in the market as to whether this fiscal package can change anything”, said Alvin Tan, a strategist at Societe Generale.

“What was exciting over the past month was the potential for monetary policy to act in coordination with the fiscal measures and we were definitely disappointed on that front last week. Coordination still seems a good way off”.

While Japanese bonds steadied on Wednesday they have still suffered the worst sell-off in over three years as investors feared the BoJ was out of easing ammunition and might leave it to fiscal policy to stimulate the economy. The yen climbed to the highest level in three weeks following the release of the spending details, which only amounted to a small part of the headline number, and was trading at 101.72 to the dollar at 5:52am ET.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the USA currency against 10 major peers, added 0.1 per cent, after sliding 0.6 per cent in the previous session amid waning bets on the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in 2016.

The 10-year United Kingdom gilt yield was unchanged at 0.80 percent GB10YT=RR and the comparable Bund yielded -0.4 percent EU10YT=RR, both up around 10 basis points so far this week. Brent crude has since recovered in Asia trade to rise 0.5%.

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Stocks rallied last month on promises of support from central banks, but disappointing stimulus, weak United States data, plunging oil prices and worries about European banks have sent dealers scurrying for cover. Brent, the worldwide benchmark, rose 64 cents to $42.79.

Japan approves $130 billion fiscal steps as BOJ denies curbing stimulus