TOKYO – Asian equities fell on Wednesday as world markets cautiously awaited the latest comments from the US central bank on the economic outlook.
Nikkei 225 NIK from Japan,
gave up on initial gains and fell 0.2%, while South Korea’s Kospi 180721,
decreased by 1%. S & P / ASX 200 XJO from Australia,
fell 0.7%. Hong Kong Hang Seng HSI,
fell 0.2%, while the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP,
fell 0.4%. Singapore reference indices STI,
Taiwan Y9999,
and Indonesia JAKIDX,
slipped too.
Investors are waiting for the Federal Reserve’s latest economic and interest rate projections, expected later in the day. Economists hope that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will try to convince nervous financial markets that the central bank can continue to provide support without triggering higher inflation.
These concerns have recently increased bond yields, undermining demand for stock purchases.
The Fed meeting “carries the potential to calm or heighten some of the recent market concerns about rising bond yields,” said Jingyi Pan, senior market strategist at IG in Singapore.
Wall Street ended a busy day of trading, with indexes closing lower. Losses from banks, industrial stocks and companies that depend on consumer spending, including cruise operators, outweighed earnings from Big Tech stocks and communications services.
The S&P 500 SPX,
fell 0.2% to 3,962.71. The DJIA of the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
lost 0.4% to 32,825.95. The Nasdaq COMP,
counteracted the trend, benefiting from the recovery of technology stocks and rising 0.1%, to 13,471.57.
Investors analyzed the new economic data on Tuesday, which showed Americans cut their spending last month, partly due to bad weather in large parts of the country, which kept customers away from stores, and partly due to payments from stimulus in December and January ending.
“We are still in the middle of returning to a more normal environment,” said Jason Pride, director of private investment at Glenmede. “Given the amount of government stimulus payments, we will see the numbers jump.”
In the energy trade, the US reference oil CLJ21,
dropped 9 cents to $ 64.71 a barrel in e-commerce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He lost 59 cents to $ 64.80 on Tuesday. Brent gross BRNK21,
the international standard, lost 15 cents to $ 68.24 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar USDJPY,
it rose to 109.12 Japanese yen from 108.99 yen.