Asian Markets Trade Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets trade mostly lower on Wednesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders are reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the US Fed's monetary policy announcement later in the day. While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, there is considerable uncertainty about the longer-term outlook for rates. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Tuesday.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to the wording of the Fed's accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference for clues about the outlook for interest rates.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 87.4 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point on Wednesday but a 67.5 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged in January.

Australian shares are trading slightly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 8,600 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in energy stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors. Mining stocks were the only bright spot.

The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged for a third straight meeting as expected, citing inflation risks, and reiterated that price risks have "tilted to the upside."

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 5.60 points or 0.07 percent to 8,580.30, after touching a high of 8,611.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 9.00 points or 0.10 percent to 8,866.80. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is adding almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is slipping more than 1 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each. Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is adding almost 2 percent, while Appen and Zip are declining almost 2 percent each. Xero is losing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.5 percent and Westpac is losing almost 1 percent, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.3 percent. National Australia bank is flat. Among gold miners, Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are adding more than 3 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are advancing more than 4 percent each. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.663 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Wednesday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 50,450 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 50,448.28 down 206.82 points or 0.41 percent, after touching a high of 51,107.77 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is surging more than 3 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is down almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing more than 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.3 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, Panasonic is advancing more than 3 percent and Canon is adding almost 1 percent, while Sony is down more than 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Dowa Holdings is jumping almost 7 percent, while Mitsubishi Materials and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are surging almost 5 percent each. Renesas Electronics, Kubota and SMC are gaining more than 4 percent each. Konica Minolta, Astellas Pharma, Mitsui Kinzoku, Dai Nippon Printing and JTEKT are advancing almost 4 percent each. Denso and NTN are adding more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Shionogi & Co. is losing almost 4 percent.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 0.3 percent on month in November, the Bank of Japan said on Monday. That was in line with expectations and down from the upwardly revised 0.5 percent in October (originally 0.4 percent). On a yearly basis, producer prices were up 2.7 percent - matching expectations and unchanged from the previous month.

Export prices were up 1.1 percent on month and 1.2 percent on year, the bank said, while import prices rose 0.7 percent on month but sank 2.7 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia lower by between 0.3 and 0.6 percent each, while Indonesia and Taiwan are up 0.3 and 0.5 percent, respectively. South Korea is relatively flat.

On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance during Tuesday's session following the modest pullback seen during trading on Monday. The major averages fluctuated over the course of the session before closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 30.58 points or 0.1 percent to 23,576,49, the S&P 500 edged down 6.00 points or 0.1 percent to 6,840.51 and the Dow fell 179.03 points or 0.4 percent to 47,560.29.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday as Iraq resumed crude flow from Lukoil's West Qurna oil fields while the U.S. dollar gained ground after job data from the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.66 or 1.12 percent at $58.22 per barrel.