Nikkei 225 index gained 2.1% to 31,515.94, the Hang Seng rose less than 0.1% to 17,119.12, the Shanghai Composite index added 0.2% to 3,023.64, Kospi gained 1% to 2,300.48 and the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.7% higher at 6,826.50
Asian shares were mostly up Wednesday after Wall Street gained to recoup some of the ground it gave up in another losing month.
Investors are awaiting a decision later Wednesday by the Fed on interest rates and updates on the state of the U.S. economy. The overwhelming expectation is that the Fed will keep its overnight interest rate steady. The bigger question is how long it will keep that rate high.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 2.1% to 31,515.94 a day after the Bank of Japan held back from any major changes to its near-zero interest rate policy, though it adjusted its controls on government bond yields.
The dollar dropped against the Japanese yen, trading at 151.27 yen. It climbed on Tuesday after the central bank’s decision.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose less than 0.1%, to 17,119.12. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.2% to 3,023.64.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 1%, to 2,300.48 and the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.7% higher at 6,826.50.
European futures were up early Wednesday. Inflation that has been wearing on European consumers dropped steeply to 2.9% in October, its lowest in over two years as fuel prices dropped and rapid interest rate hikes from the ECB took hold. But that encouraging news was balanced by worrisome official figures showing economic output in the 20 countries that use the euro dropped by 0.1% in the third quarter.
Tuesday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 added 0.6% to 4,193.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4% to 33,052.87 and the Nasdaq composite jumped 0.5%, to 12,851.24.
Over 80% of the stocks in the S&P 500 strengthened. It ended October with a loss of 2.2% for the month. That’s its third consecutive monthly decline, the longest losing streak since the pandemic froze the global economy at the beginning of 2020.
