An inflatable bull is seen during a ceremony for this year’s first day of trading at the Korea Exchange (KRX) headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting showed that Fed officials were more worried about inflation, and members expressed their lack of confidence in promoting interest rate cuts. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed.
In Asia, investors will assess immediate business activity data from Australia and Japan, as well as final figures for Singapore’s first-quarter gross domestic product.
The Bank of Korea will announce its policy rate decision today.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect the Bank of Korea to keep its benchmark lending rate at 3.5% ING’s Notes Last week said the meeting would still be closely watched, “Two new members have joined the (BoK) board since the last meeting and it will be interesting to see if that changes the board’s views.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index It opened up 0.52%, while the Topix fell 0.27%.
In contrast, South Korea Cospi The Kosdaq fell 0.6%, with the small-cap Kosdaq down 0.53%.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index A loss of nearly 1%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures were at 19,035 points, which also opened lower than the Hang Seng Index’s closing point of 19,195.6 points.
Overnight in America, Dow Jones Industrial Average Worst day in May fell 0.51%, while S&P 500 Index Down 0.27% Nasdaq Index down 0.18%.
Minutes of the policy meeting from April 30 to May 1 A Federal Open Market Committee report released on Wednesday showed policymakers were concerned about when to ease policy.
However, one notable bright spot in the U.S. is its artificial intelligence darling NvidiaThe chipmaker’s shares topped the $1,000 mark for the first time in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the chipmaker reported fiscal first-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations.
—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
About The Author
