beijing asian stock markets rebounded wednesday after wall street fell on weak retail sales as investors awaited an update from the federal reserve on possible plans to reduce us stimulus the shanghai composite index shcomp gained 06 and the nikkei 225 nik in tokyo added 08 the hang seng hsi in hong kong was 07 higher the kospi 180721 in seoul advanced 08 and sydney’s spasx 200 xjo added 02 benchmark indexes in singapore sti and indonesia jakidx gained while stocks fell in taiwan y9999  wall street’s benchmark sp 500 index declined tuesday from a record high after us retail sales in july were weaker than expected investors watched for the fed’s release wednesday of minutes from its july policy meeting for an update on when the central bank might start reducing bond purchases that pump money into the financial system and look at raising interest rates some fed officials citing strong hiring growth and rising inflation say policy normalization should start soon others argue the fed needs to see stronger economic data to be sure a recovery is established “overall there seems to be an absence of positive catalysts to boost sentiments” said yeap jun rong of ig in a report “market sentiments may thus largely remain on hold with the upcoming fed minutes on watch next” also wednesday japan reported july exports rose by double digits for the fifth straight month and were up 37 from the same time a year ago on wall street the sp 500 spx lost 07 to 444808 for its biggest decline in four weeks amid signs the coronavirus is holding back the us economy the dow jones industrial average djia lost 08 to 3534328 the nasdaq composite comp dropped 09 to 1465618 in energy markets benchmark us crude clu21 gained 7 cents to 6666 per barrel in electronic trading on the new york mercantile exchange the contract fell 70 cents on tuesday to 6659 brent crude brnv21  the price basis for international oils advanced 7 cents to 6909 per barrel in london it fell 48 cents the previous session to 6903 a barrel the dollar usdjpy was littlechanged at 10958 yen