Asia-Pacific markets were largely down as investors brace for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate decision on Wednesday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index eased 14.17 points to 32,668.34.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dropped 69.26 points, or 0.4%, to 19,364.14.
The Fed is expected to approve what would be the 11th interest rate increase since March 2022.
Markets are pricing in an absolute certainty that the Fed will approve a quarter percentage point hike that will take its benchmark borrowing rate to a target range of 5.25%-5.5%. That would push the upper boundary of the federal funds rate to its highest level since January 2001.
South Korea’s Kospi led losses in the region and fell as much as 2%, dragged by tech and consumer services stocks.
Singapore’s manufacturing output fell 4.9% year on year in May, a shallower drop than the 6.8% expected in a Reuters poll.
Excluding the typically volatile biomedical manufacturing sector, output fell 5.2% year-on-year.
The 4.9% figure is a rebound from the revised figure of a 10.5% drop seen in May, which was Singapore’s steepest fall in manufacturing output in about 10 years.
On a seasonally-adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output increased 5% compared to May. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 6.6%.
Australian markets zoomed to their highest point since last February. Australia’s inflation rate on an annual basis grew 6% in the June quarter, slower than the 7% seen in the first quarter, official data showed.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 sank 8.11 points, or 0.2%, to 3,907.01.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 18.8 points, or 0.6%, to 3,304.96.
In Korea, the Kospi Index fell 44.1 points, or 1.7%, to 2,592.36.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index stumbled 36.34 points, or 0.2%, to 17,162.55.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 poked ahead 20.87 points, or 0.2%, to 11,954.73
In Australia, ASX 200 hiked 62.34 points, or 0.9%, to 7,402.01.
