Asian markets looked set for a mixed open on Thursday after the U. S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time this year.
Asian markets looked set for a mixed open on Thursday after the U. S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time this year. The ASX 200 clung to slim gains in the early going while Nikkei futures pointed to a lower open for Japan.
The Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points to a range of 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent at the end of its policy meeting on Wednesday, as was widely expected.
The central bank indicated that it still expected three hikes this year, but upgraded its projection for the benchmark rate in 2019 to 2.9 percent. Growth forecasts for this year and the next were also raised.
U. S. stocks whipsawed in the last session, touching session highs shortly after the Fed made its announcement, but ultimately closed below the flat line.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.18 percent, or 44.96 points, to close at 24,682.31, the S&P 500 edged lower by 0.18 percent to finish at 2,711.93 and the Nasdaq composite eased 0.26 percent to end at 7,345.29.
Stocks in Japan looked set to track the move lower stateside at the open, with futures pointing to a lower open for equities when markets there re-open for trade after a one-day closure. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were down 0.64 percent at 21,245 compared to the index’s previous close.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 hovered around the flat line in early trade, with the index last higher by 0.03 percent.
In corporate news, tech giant Tencent Holdings on Wednesday announced that net profit for the quarter ending Dec. 31 rose 98 percent to 20.8 billion yuan ($3.3 billion). That beat the 16.9 billion yuan average forecast in a Thomson Reuters survey.
Meanwhile, companies due to report on Thursday include Petrochina, China Mobile and Kerry Logistics.
In currencies, the dollar fell in the overnight session. Analysts indicated that one reason for the decline was due to some investors having expected the Fed’s “dot plot” to reflect four rate hikes instead of the three that it maintained for this year.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six rival currencies, stood at 89.783 at the end of Wednesday, compared to a session high of 90.401. Against the yen, the dollar traded at 105.98 at 6:56 a.m. HK/SIN.
On the commodities front, U. S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.6 percent to settle at $65.17 per barrel. Brent crude futures settled 3 percent higher at $69.47, the highest level in close to seven weeks.
Here’s the economic calendar for Thursday (all times in HK/SIN):
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
