Shares in the Asia-Pacific markets opened the week in red zones as concerns about the Federal Reserve’s rapid rate hikes made a comeback.
As of 9:31 a.m. Thai time, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down around 0.37%, the Nikkei 225 in Japan lost 0.46%, and South Korea’s Kospi was 0.85% lower.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia dipped 0.87%.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.36%.
Later in the week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give the keynote address at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole economic symposium. His upcoming statement on the economy will likely indicate how high interest rates in the United States will need to go in order to slow down inflation. Analysts and economists agree there is a risk that he would disappoint investors by not carrying out the dovish policy move.
“Recent Fed speakers have been stressing the message that more rate hikes are coming given the fight against inflation has not yet been won,” Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank wrote in a Monday note.
“We expect a reminder that more tightening is needed and there is still a lot of progress to be done on inflation, but no explicit commitment to a specific rate hike action for September,” said Jan Nevruzi, an analyst at NatWest Markets.
