Employees wearing protective masks work in a trading room at the headquarters of Daiwa Securities Group Inc. in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, October 14, 2021.
Toru Hanai | Bloomberg via Getty Images
SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific markets traded cautiously as investors digested signs from the US Federal Reserve on its ultra-easy monetary policy since its inception. The beginning of the pandemic is coming to an end.
In Australia, stocks were relatively bearish during early trading. Exact score ASX 200 fell 0.05% as sectors like energy and materials struggled to post gains.
Futures also showed a higher open in Japan, where Nikkei 225 lost 0.1% in the previous session.
Thursday’s session in Asia follows overnight profits on Wall Street.
State, Fed says it will accelerate reduction in monthly bond purchases The central bank will buy $60 billion a month in bonds starting January, down from December’s $90 billion, and said it is likely to continue on that trajectory in the coming months.
Once it’s over, in late winter or early spring, the central bank is expected to start raising interest rates. Forecasts released overnight showed Fed officials expected three rate hikes in 2022, two next year and two more in 2024.
Tapas Strickland, director of economics and markets at National Australia Bank, said: “Markets appear to have tilted forward as the three rallies were almost priced in at the meeting and expectations were high for a structure. accelerating cone,” said Tapas Strickland, chief economist and marketer at National Australia Bank. Thursday note.
“One gets the impression with that record that the Fed could move as early as March 2022, although of course the Omicron variant is one of the key uncertainties as well as the taper profile will affect to the view of the first rate hike in May 2022 and is 90% of the price,” he added.
Currency and oil
In the money market, U.S. dollar Last traded at 96,511 against a basket of peers.
The Japanese yen weakened to 114.15 against the dollar, from near 113.70 earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7170, remaining relatively flat.
Oil prices rose on Thursday during Asian trading hours, with US crude up 1.06% at $71.62 a barrel.
– CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
