Asia stocks on edge ahead of Fed, yen eases towards 152 level
By Stella Qiu
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, wary in case the Federal Reserve flags a slower path of rate cuts later in the day, while the yen plumbed four-month lows on expectations that policy in Japan will be accommodative for a while longer.
European markets are set to open lower, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures down 0.4% and FTSE futures 0.1% lower. Both U.S. futures were off 0.1%.
Tokyo's Nikkei is closed for a holiday in Japan, but the yen's weakness lifted Nikkei futures 0.4% higher, a day after the Bank of Japan ended years of negative interest rates in a well-telegraphed move.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1%. Taiwanese shares fell 0.6% while South Korean shares jumped 1.2%, driven by a 5.6% surge in Samsung Electronics (KS:005930).
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) said it was qualifying the South Korean chipmaker's high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.
Chinese shares also rose slightly. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.5%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index crept 0.2% higher.
China's central bank left its benchmark lending rates unchanged on Wednesday, as widely expected.
The dollar gained 0.4% to 151.51 yen, a fresh four-month high, and moved closer to the 152 level that prompted Japanese authorities to intervene to stem the currency's slide in late 2022. It slumped about 1.1% overnight.
While Japan's historic shift away from negative interest rates and massive stimulus ushered in a new era of economic policy for the nation, analysts expect the BOJ's monetary normalisation to proceed at a glacial pace. That has meant an extended lifespan for the popular carry trades where investors borrow yen to buy higher yielding currencies.
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