Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday supported by slight cool off in US bond yields. However, investors remained cautious amid escalating Middle East tensions and supply threats to crude from an outage on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline. Further, traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later in the day. The Fed is widely expected to hike interest rates by 25 basis points, marking its first hike in around three years in an effort to curb inflationary pressures. South Korea’s Kospi rose amid gains in semiconductor stocks. Meanwhile, Malaysian market remained closed in observance of the Malaysia Day public holiday.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,891.60 | 27.32 | 0.71 |
Hang Seng | 24,713.78 | 46.54 | 0.19 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,436.85 | -24.30 | -0.38 |
KLSE Composite | -- | -- | -- |
Nikkei 225 | 63,923.00 | 438.90 | 0.69 |
Straits Times | 5,635.41 | -3.23 | -0.06 |
KOSPI Composite | 6,717.97 | 90.71 | 1.37 |
Taiwan Weighted | 45,848.90 | 337.41 | 0.74 |
