Asian stock market: Mixed as nothing matters more than the Fed, for now

• Trading momentum ebbs in Asia ahead of US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision.
• China’s CPI, tussle with the UK and the US fail to provide any clear direction to markets.
• Fed needs to strike a balance between the long-term goal and fight against the coronavirus.

The pre-Fed trading lull seems to dominate market sentiment as stocks in Asia flash mixed signals, that too with mild gains/losses, ahead of the European session on Wednesday. While portraying the mood, the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan probe 10-day winning streak with 0.22% gains to 652.13. Though, Japan’s Nikkei flash 0.03% losses to 23,083 by the press time.

In keeping a sober mood ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), traders ignored China’s downbeat Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data for May. Further, the recently escalating tension between the UK and China, as well as updates on the Sino-American tussle, also fail to entertain the Asian investors.

Even so, equities in Australia and New Zealand are mildly bid whereas Chinese shares remain sluggish as we write. Further, India’s BSE Sensex flash mild gains ahead of the Trade Deficit data whereas Indonesia’s IDX Composite drops more than 1.0% to 4,912 amid fears of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak amid the early easing of lockdown restrictions.

It’s worth mentioning that the Philippines’ PSEi Composite becomes Asia’s biggest loser, down 3.23% to 6,370 amid calls of likely tension with China following readiness to act around the South China sea.

On a broader scale, the US 10-year Treasury yields seesaw around 0.83% while the stock futures lack upside momentum while flashing mild gains below 0.50% as we write. Although forecasts and projections are the key in today’s Fed meeting, Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference keeps its importance. The reason being the rising numbers of analysts calling for the use of unconventional monetary policy tools to strike the balance between long-term goad and also fight against the pandemic.