Asian Markets Track Wall Street Lower

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Wednesday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of the US Fed’s monetary policy announcement later in the day. The Fed is widely expected to pause on rate hikes, with CME Group’s FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 99% chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Tuesday.

The Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also set to announce their interest-rate decisions later in the week.

The Australian stock market is notably lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness across most sectors, led by mining and energy stocks amid weaker commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 34.00 points or 0.47 percent to 7,162.60, after hitting a low of 7,151.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 34.60 points or 0.47 percent to 7,360.40. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are losing almost 1 percent each, while BHP Group is down more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 2 percent and Appen is slipping more than 4 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are down almost 1 percent each. Zip is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is declining almost 2 percent and Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent, while Newcrest Mining, Resolute Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.645 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remained cautious ahead of the US Fed’s monetary policy decision later in the day. They also await the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision on Friday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 33,122.21, down 120.38 points or 0.36 percent, after hitting a low of 33,111.68 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 1 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.5 percent, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are flat.

Among other major losers, Sumitomo Pharma is losing almost 4 percent, while Teijin, NEXON and Inpex are down more than 3 percent each. Mitsui E&S, Kansai Electric Power, Idemitsu Kosan, ENEOS Holdings and Ajinomoto is declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Taiyo Yuden is gaining more than 3 percent.

In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 930.477 billion yen in August, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. That was well shy of expectations for a shortfall of 659.1 billion yen following the upwardly revised 66.3 billion yen deficit in July (originally -78.7 billion yen).

Exports were down 0.8 percent on year at 7.994 trillion yen, beating forecasts for a decline of 1.7 percent following the 0.3 percent drop in the previous month. Imports slumped an annual 17.8 percent to 8.924 trillion yen versus expectations for a fall of 19.4 percent following the downwardly revised 13.6 percent contraction a month earlier (originally -13.5 percent).

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.4 percent each, while Indonesia is bucking the trend and is up 0.5 percent.

On the Wall Street, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday but still closed modestly lower after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages all finished the day in the red, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq falling to its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The major averages remained stuck in negative territory going into the close. The Dow fell 106.57 points or 0.3 percent to 34,517.73, the Nasdaq dipped 32.05 points or 0.2 percent to 13,678.19 and the S&P 500 slipped 9.58 points or 0.2 percent to 4,443.95.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday after posting gains in the three previous sessions to touch a 10-month high. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.28 or 0.3 percent at $91.20 a barrel.