Asian Markets Track Global Markets Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Wednesday, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, as traders fear the widely expected interest rate cut of a quarter point by the US Fed later in the day will be too little after recent US jobs and inflation numbers. They remain cautious and are reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the announcement. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates. It is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 95 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point and a slim 5 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

Australian shares are trading notably lower on Wednesday, reversing the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling well below the 8,850 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 61.60 points or 0.69 percent to 8,816.10, after hitting a low of 8,814.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 59.00 points or 0.65 percent to 9,092.20. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue is declining 1.5 percent and Mineral Resources is slipping almost 3 percent.

BHP announced plans to suspend operations and cut 750 jobs at a Queensland coking coal mine, citing low prices and high state royalties.

Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is advancing almost 3 percent. Santos is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are adding more than 1 percent each. Appen is declining almost 2 percent and Zip is losing almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia bank is losing more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Commonwealth Bank is flat.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is declining almost 2 percent and Resolute Mining is down 1.5 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Newmont are losing almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in PYC Therapeutics are tumbling more than 28 percent after the clinical-stage biotechnology company announced the sudden resignation of CEO and Executive Director Dr. Rohan Hockings.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.668 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading modestly higher on Wednesday after opening in the red, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving to near the 45,000 mark, with gains in technology stocks partially offset by weakness in exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 44,995.79, up 93.52 points or 0.21 percent, after hitting a low of 44,612.07 and an all-time record high of 45,033.34 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is down more than 1 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is surging more than 6 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.3 percent, while Sony is gaining more than 1 percent. Panasonic is flat, Among other major losers, TDK is gaining almost 4 percent and Shiseido is adding more than 3 percent, while Alps Alpine and Disco are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sumitomo Pharma and Mitsui Mining & Smelting are losing more than 3 percent each, while T&D Holdings, MS&AD Insurance, Socionext, Kansai Electric Power, Tokyo Electric Power, Otsuka Holdings and Furukawa Electric are declining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-146 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.2 and 0.9 percent each. Hong Kong is up 1.2 percent, while China and Malaysia are up 0.2 and 0.1 percent, respectively.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after ending the previous session mostly higher. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs in early trading but spent the rest of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day modestly lower. The Dow dipped 125.55 points or 0.3 percent to 45,757.90, the Nasdaq slipped 14.79 points or 0.1 percent to 22,333.96 and the S&P 500 edged down 8.52 points or 0.1 percent to 6,606.76.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is tumbled 1.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday amid the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war and ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.22 or 1.93 percent at $64.52 per barrel.