Asian markets mostly higher before the Fed meeting, recent trade negotiations
Asian markets rose most on Wednesday when traders waited for a Federal Reserve policy meeting and US China talks, although Japan's benchmark index declined.
Japanese Nikkei 225 Index
NIK, -0.52%
withdrawn 0.3% while South Korea's Kospi
SEU, + 1.05%
climbed 0.5%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index
+ 0.1[ads1]4%
received 0.2%. while the Shanghai Composite Index
SHCOMP, -0.47%
edged up 0.1%. Australia's S&P ASX 200
XJO, + 0.21%
was approximately flat. Stocks rose in Southeast Asia and Taiwan
Y9999, + 0.01%
.
Among individual stocks, Sony
6758, -1.27%
Toyota
7267, -0.12%
and SoftBank
9984, -0.76%
all slipped in Tokyo trading. In Seoul, SK Hynix
000660, + 3.41%
and Posco
005490, + 6.15%
jumped. Real estate companies led gains in Hong Kong, with Country Garden
2007, + 4.87%
China Resources Land
1109, + 4.58%
and China Overseas Land & Investment
0688, + 2.30%
increasing. Mining shares increased in Australia, with Rio Tinto
RIO, + 4.51%
Fortescue Mining
FMG, + 7.75%
and BHP
BHP, + 2.55%
adds large gains.
U.S. the indices reflected a mixed drawing of corporate earnings on Tuesday. 3M
MMM, + 1.94%
the manufacturer of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics, gave positive results in the fourth quarter. Harley Davidson
HOG, -5.05%
reported a drop in sales. apple
AAPL, -1.04%
announced better than expected earnings, and stocks increased by 5.7% to $ 163.50 in the after-sales trade. The S&P 500 index
SPX, -0.15%
retired 0.1% to 2,640.00 while Dow Jones Industrial Average
+ 0.21%
was up 0.2% at 24.579.96. Nasdaq composite
COMP, -0.81%
shed 0.8% to 7,028.29.
All eyes are on a Federal Open Market Committee meeting ending Wednesday. Although the Fed is expected to leave its short-term interest rate unchanged, nuances of a press conference by Chairman Jerome Powell will be closely monitored.
US and Chinese officials will begin two days of trade negotiations in Washington. President Donald Trump will eventually meet Chinese Vice President Liu He in an attempt to move negotiations forward. But the Justice Department's charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei, its subsidiaries and a senior executive can be a hindrance. China has urged the US authorities to end what is called an "unreasonable rebellion" against Huawei, who has been accused of stealing technology and violating sanctions against Iran.
"Asia markets are quietly trading sideways tomorrow, and we expect to be the theme of the day when the event risk needle fluctuates much higher from tonight in North America," said Jeffrey Halley of Oanda in a market comment.
Benchmark US crude
CLH9, + 0.09%
rose 15 cents to $ 53.46 per barrel in electronic commerce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It got $ 1.32 to settle at $ 53.31 a barrel on Tuesday. Burned crude oil
LCOH9, + 0.21%
used to price international oils, fetched 21 cents to $ 61.31 per barrel. The contract reached $ 1.39 to $ 61.20 per barrel in London.
dollar
USDJPY, -0.10%
eased to 109.34 yen from 109.35 yen late Tuesday.
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