Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Street gains ahead of Fed decision on interest rates
Asian shares are mostly higher after Wall Street advanced to claim back some of the ground it gave up in another losing month
BANGKOK — Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday after Wall Street advanced to claim back some of the ground it gave up in another losing month.
Investors are awaiting a decision later Wednesday by the Federal Reserve on interest rates and updates on the state of the U.S. economy. The overwhelming expectation is that the Fed will keep its overnight interest rate steady. The bigger question is how long it will keep that main rate high.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index added 2.4% to 31,601.65 a day after the Bank of Japan held back from any major changes to its near-zero interest rate policy, though it adjusted its controls on government bond yields.
The dollar weakened against the Japanese yen, trading at 151.28 yen. It jumped on Tuesday after the Japanese central bank's decision.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng edged less than 0.1% higher, to 17,126.70. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.1% to 3,023.08.
South Korea's Kospi advanced 1% to 2,301.56 and the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% to 6,838.30.
European futures were higher early Wednesday. Inflation that has been wearing on European consumers fell sharply to 2.9% in October, its lowest in more than two years as fuel prices fell and rapid interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank took hold. But that encouraging news was balanced by worrisome official figures showing economic output in the 20 countries that use the euro shrank by 0.1% in the July-September quarter.
Tuesday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 4,193.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4% to 33,052.87 and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%, to 12,851.24.
More than 80%
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