Asia Lower Ahead of December FOMC

Investors in Asia remained cautious with oil prices under pressure, and with the US Federal Reserve about to start its latest meeting.

The US central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates for the first time since June 2006.

Oil prices started to slide again after staging a mini-recovery late on Monday.

Brent crude had fallen to $36.33 a barrel on Monday before rebounding and heading back towards $38, but then it slipped back to $37.61.

In Japan the Nikkei 225 closed down 317.52 points, or 1.7%, at 18,565.90 after falling as much as 3% on Monday.

Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day down 0.4% at 4,909.6 – the lowest the index has been since mid-2013.

The benchmark was pulled down by some of the country’s big banks, with Commonwealth Bank shares sinking 0.7% while ANZ finished the day down 1.3%.
Continued worries over a global oversupply of oil also hit the market.

“The [oil] supply side is catching most of the market’s attention,” said Evan Lucas from IG Markets.

“Iran added to the Saudi commentary overnight in looking to further increase its production.”

In South Korea, the Kospi index closed up 0.27% at 1,932.97.

via BBC

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.