Fed, US-China trade, currencies in focus
Shares in Asia Pacific were mixed on Thursday morning trading, following the US central bank's overnight monetary policy decision, claiming that the central bank is not considering cutting interest rates at this time.
South Korea's Kospi recovered from its previous release to achieve 0.18% in morning trade, as shares in business weight Samsung Electronics rose 0.11% and chipmaker SK Hynix increased 2.53%.
However, ASX 200 in Australia went by 0.62% as the trades are mixed
The markets in China and Japan are closed for vacation.
Asia-Pacific Market Indexes Chart
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled 1[ads1]62.77 points to close 26,430.14, while the S & P 500 went down 0.8% to an end of 2,923, 73 after hitting a full time high. Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to close at 8.049.64. S & P 500 also posted its worst day since March 22.
Federal Reserve officials voted to keep interest rates steady on Wednesday, while Fed chairman Jerome Powell said in a press conference that the low low inflation pressure could only be "transient." speculation the central bank was entertaining the idea of a price decline due to domestic inflation.
Data released earlier this week showed that the core consumer spending index remained unchanged in March and was 1.6 per cent the following year – under Fed's 2% goal. US President Donald Trump had urged the Fed to cut prices by 1 percentage point this week due to low inflation.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was 97,632 after an increase from 97.2 handle in the previous session.
"The dollar should continue to strengthen for 2 main reasons – first the Fed chair made it very clear that in terms of the economy he sees the glass half full. He expects the prospects to improve as the previous weakness becomes easier. Secondly he sees no reason to talk about price reductions, "Kathy Lien, CEO of foreign exchange market strategy at BK Asset Management, wrote in a night note.
"This view strongly contrasts with other central banks that have recently expressed concerns about growth and talked openly about the possibility of an answer to counter this trend," Lien said.
On the trade front in the US and China, sources on CNBC said on Wednesday that a trade agreement between the two economic power stations could be announced next Friday.
The Japanese yen, generally seen as a safe currency, traded at 111.49 against the dollar after seeing heights below 111.2 yesterday. The Australian dollar was $ 0.7015 after falling from levels above $ 704 yesterday.
Oil prices fell sharply in the morning in Asian trading hours, with the international reference to Brent's crude futures contract of $ 72.12 per barrel and US raw futures of $ 63.57 per barrel.
– CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
