Asia Pacific Markets Trade Mixed after No Sign of Rate Cut on Fed Minutes

On Wednesday morning (22 Nov, 9:30 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), Asia Pacific major stock indices traded mixed, after the publication of the US Fed’s 31 Oct Meeting Minutes showed no sign of the interest rate cut, as the US central bank continued to holds its policy rate at  the 22-year high of 5.25% to 5.50% range.

 

Japan’s NIKKEI went up by 0.5% to 33,521.79. South Korea’s KOSPI dropped by 0.64% to 2,494.23, and Australia’s ASX 200 slightly edged down by 0.09% to 7,072.1.

As for Chinese indices, Shanghai’s SSEC edged down by 0.15% to 3,063.41. Hong Kong’s HSI slid by 0.15% to 17,706.82, and Shenzhen’s SZI fell by 0.55% to 9,942.06.

 

As for last night  US markets, most US stocks edged down after Fed Meeting Minutes were released. The semiconductors stocks got hit the most as ON led the trend with an over 3% drop. However, the medical devices stocks like MDT gained over 4%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed by 0.18% to 35,088.29. NASDAQ fell by 0.59% to 14,199.98 and S&P 500 rose by 0.2% to 4,538.19. On the other hand, VIX strangely dropped by 0.45% to 13.35, despite the market downturn.

 

As for commodities futures, Brent settled higher by 0.16% to $82.45 per barrel. Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) followed with a 0.08% gain to $77.70 a barrel.

As for this morning, Brent edged down by 0.15% to $82.33 a barrel and WTI followed with a 0.15% drop at $77.65 per barrel. Furthermore, the gold futures edged down by 0.14% to $1,998.7 per Troy ounce.