A city view seen from the Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower in the Minato district of Tokyo, Japan on November 24, 2023.
Ahmet Furkan | Anadolu | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are poised for a mixed open on Thursday following broad declines on Wall Street as the U.S. Federal Reserve cut borrowing rates for the third consecutive meeting while signaling fewer rate cuts ahead.
Investors in Asia also await a interest rate decision by the Bank of Japan after its two-day policy meeting. The central bank is expected to leave its target rate unchanged at 0.25%.
The Japanese yen strengthened slightly on Thursday morning at 154.57 against the greenback.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 is set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 38,665 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,470 against the index’s last close of 39,081.71.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day down 0.64%.
Meanwhile, futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 19,873, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s close of 19,864.55.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked by 1,123.03 points, or 2.58%, to 42,326.87, posting its first 10-day losing streak since 1974. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.95% to 5,872.16 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.56% to 19,392.69.
The sell-off on Wall Street came after the central bank lowered its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%. While the cut was widely anticipated, the Fed indicated there will only be two rate cuts in 2025, fewer than the four cuts in its previous forecast.
“We moved pretty quickly to get to here, and I think going forward obviously we’re moving slower,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at the post-meeting press conference.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
