Asian markets on hold with Fed on deck

Asian equities trade sideways ahead of the FOMC

New York markets had another choppy, but ultimately directionless session overnight. The main indexes crawled to a positive close after the US 10-year yield slid back below 3.0%, having climbed above it earlier in the session. The S&P 500 rose 0.48%, the Nasdaq rose 0.22%, and the Dow Jones finished just 0.17% higher. In Asia, futures on all three have added between 0.10% and 0.15% in subdued trading.

A raft of holidays across Asia continues to mute volatility and volumes. Japan, Mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand are all closed. South Korea’s Kospi has edged 0.23% lower as markets continue to process multi-year highs in inflation and a China slowdown.

Singapore is down 0.10%, with Taipei climbing 0.25%, and Manila falling by 0.28%. Australian markets are equally quiet, although decent data today keeps the faster RBA rate hike story alive, weighing on sentiment, as are ever-tightening covid-zero restrictions in China. The All Ordinaries has fallen by 0.25%, while the ASX 200 has eased 0.05% lower.

European markets are likely to start slowly as well, with the FOMC the one ring to rule them all. Continuing chatter surrounding an EU embargo on Russian oil, and the geopolitical situation in the East will keep recession fears front and centre, limiting gains ahead of the FOMC announcement.

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.