- Absence of Japan and Chinese traders limit market moves.
- Overall caution prevails ahead of the FOMC.
Asian stocks seem following their global counterparts on Wednesday as little moves were witnessed. Absence of Chinese and Japanese traders from markets negatively affects global market moves while caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy also dents trade sentiment.
MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan seesaws around -0.2% by the time of writing whereas New Zealand markets remained active and portrayed more than half a percent of losses on sluggish prints of quarterly employment data.
Australia’s ASX200 took advantage of positive news developments surrounding the going US-China trade talks in Beijing while South Korea’s KOSPI stretched previous losses to nearly -0.60%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 0.15%, S&P500 grew nearly 0.10% but Nasdaq had to bear the burden of technology shared with -0.81% loss.
Macro risk tone, as inferred from 10-year Treasury yield from the US, remained mostly unchanged at 2.50%.
Not only China and Japan but the European and Swiss markets are also closed, which in turn gives greater importance to the FOMC meeting.
The Fed policymakers are expected to reiterate their bearish bias amid cautious outlook. Though, latest data from the US have been upbeat and might push the FOMC and the Fed Chair Jerome Powell towards avoiding additional warnings on the economic front.
With China’s PMI and New Zealand’s job numbers already out, Asian markets are likely to head towards a dull week for the rest of the days. As a result, Wall Street moves might be closely observed to determine near-term trade direction.
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