Aerial view of skyscrapers standing at the Lujiazui Financial District at sunrise on June 8, 2022 in Shanghai, China.
Zhang Zhuoming | VCG | Getty Images
Hong Kong stocks led gains in Asia-Pacific markets Tuesday ahead of the final U.S. Federal Reserve meeting of the year.
The Fed’s two-day meeting kicks off Tuesday, and the U.S. central bank is expected to maintain the Federal Funds rate steady in the 5.25%-5.5% range.
Producer prices in Japan have risen at a faster-than-expected pace, notching a 0.3% gain year-on-year compared with the 0.1% rise estimated by economists polled by Reuters.
The Japanese yen showed some strength against the dollar, trading about 0.1% higher at 146.04 as investors will be keenly watching the impact of the Fed’s decision on the dollar/yen pair.
Market players will also assess the U.S. November inflation figures out late Tuesday, which are expected to come in at 3.1%, according to a Reuters poll. This figure is slightly lower than the 3.2% seen in October.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rebounded off a one-year low to close up 1.1%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 index finished up 0.2% at 3,426.8.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%, closing at 7,235.3 and hitting its highest level since September 15.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.2% higher at 32,843.7, after advancing 1.6% in the previous session. The broader Topix, however, shed 0.2% to finished at about 2,353.2.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.4% to 2,535.3, while the smaller Kosdaq gained 0.5% to end at 839.5. Both the indexes notched three straight days of gains.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes advanced, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average recording its third straight day of gains.
The Dow advanced 0.43% to close at its highest since January 2022, while the S&P500 rose 0.39% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.20%.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Pia Singh contributed to this report
