A customer in front of a drugstore in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.
Soichiro Koriyama | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are largely set to fall on Friday, mirroring moves on Wall Street after comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials heightened fears among investors that the central bank could hold off on rate cuts.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari also commented Thursday afternoon that he wondered if the central bank should cut rates at all if inflation remained sticky.
Oil prices also continued to rise, with WTI crude prices surpassing $86 a barrel to test six-month highs. Brent crude prices also set a new six-month high, standing at $90.65.
Investors in Asia will watch Japan’s household spending report for February, which was the last month of spending data before generous pay raises were secured by Japan’s unions in the shunto wage negotiations in March.
S&P will also release business activity numbers for Hong Kong, and the Reserve Bank of India will also announce its rate decision Friday. A Reuters poll of economists expect the RBI to hold its benchmark lending rate at 6.5%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.68% at the open.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also set to fall after briefly crossing the 40,000 mark on Thursday, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,150 and its counterpart in Osaka at 39,090 against the index’s last close of 39,773.14
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is expected to return from a public holiday stronger, with HSI futures at 16,860, compared to the HSI’s close of 16,725.1.
Sumber: www.cnbc.com
