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SINGAPORE (AP) – Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve maintained its key rate unchanged and avoided thinking that a reduction would be possible this year. Trade was clear with markets in Japan and mainland China closed.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4% to 29,829.76, while the Australian S & P ASX 200 lost 0.6% to 6,340.20. Kospi in South Korea was 0.3% higher at 2,209.33. Inventories increased in Taiwan but declined in Singapore and Indonesia.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left its key rate – which determines the cost of borrowing for individuals and businesses – in a range of 2.25% to 2.5% as expected.
Some traders had nevertheless hoped that the Fed would signal a rate cut in order to bring the inflation rate still low to its target rate of 2%. The Fed's 12-month inflation barometer is around 1.5%.
President Jerome Powell avoided this at a press conference. "The committee is comfortable with our current political position," he said.
Powell added that current inflation records could be transient and not be totally indicative of real-world price increases.
"The stock markets were expecting so much more from the Fed and were shocked when President Powell said the Fed did not see a convincing case for moving rates in either direction," said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower after climbing earlier in the day thanks to solid financial results.
The broad S & P 500 index fell 0.8% to 2,923.73 on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 26,430.14 and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6% to 8,049.64. The Russell 2000 index of shares of smaller companies yielded 0.9% to 1,576.38.
ENERGY: The benchmark US crude sold 14 cents to $ 63.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He lost 31 cents to settle at 63.60 dollars a barrel on Wednesday. Brent Brut, the international standard, sold 19 cents at $ 71.99 per barrel. He added 12 cents to close at 72.18 dollars a barrel during the previous session.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.54 Japanese yen against 111.38 yen on Wednesday night. The euro has strengthened from 1.1198 USD to 1.1207 USD.
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