Asian markets mostly gained in muted early trading Tuesday, as investors awaited key central bank meetings later this week.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.79% slipped 0.2% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.73% rose 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.08% inched up 0.1%, about the same as the smaller-cal Shenzhen Composite 399106, +0.24% . South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.38% gained 0.5% while benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +0.10% , Singapore STI, +0.81% and Indonesia JAKIDX, +0.78% advanced. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.62% rose 0.4%.
Among individual stocks, SoftBank Group 9984, -2.78% fell in Tokyo trading, while Fast Retailing 9983, -1.12% and Yahoo Japan 4689, +1.96% rose. In Hong Kong, Galaxy Entertainment 27, +1.76% and WH Group 288, +2.03% gained. Samsung advanced in South Korea. In Australia, Beach Energy BPT, +1.27% advanced.
The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee will hold a two-day meeting starting Tuesday. Traders will keep a close watch on a policy statement, to be released Wednesday, and a news conference held by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell shortly after that.
Powell will likely stick to the theme of a speech he made earlier this month: That the Fed will act if it thinks the Trump administration’s trade conflicts are threatening the U.S. economy.
Financial markets had rallied on the remarks, which fueled hopes that the Fed would cut interest rates this year. Although a rate cut isn’t expected this time around, fresh comments from Powell could support another wave of buying or have investors swing the other way.
“With scant data releases and no significant developments on the trade front, the mood in Asia will likely remain cautious with investors awaiting the FOMC meeting and possible adjustments to the dot plots before taking on substantial bets,” ING economists Nicholas Mapa and Prakash Sakpal said in a commentary.
Central banks in Britain and Japan will also announce their latest monetary policy decisions this week.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia released minutes from a policy meeting in June, which saw it easing its cash rate to 1.25%. According to the minutes, members agreed that further rate cuts were “more likely than not” in the period ahead, although there were other ways to reduce unemployment.
Trading was choppy on Wall Street on Monday, weighed by uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade dispute.
But most indexes finished the day with slight gains. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.09% edged 0.1% higher to 2,889.67 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.09% also rose 0.1% to 26,112.53. The Nasdaq composite COMP, +0.62% climbed 0.6% to 7,845.02.
Benchmark U.S. crude CLN19, -0.02% dropped 4 cents to $51.89 a barrel. The contract gave up 58 cents to $51.93 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude BRNQ19, -0.05% , the international standard, shed 5 cents to $60.89 a barrel.
The dollar USDJPY, -0.19% slipped to 108.35 Japanese yen from 108.53 yen.
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