Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell as China left its one-year and five-year loan prime rates unchanged and traders brace for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate decision Wednesday stateside.
China’s one-year and five-year loan prime rates were held at 3.45% and 4.2% respectively.
The region also saw August trade data out from Japan, while wholesale inflation in South Korea jumped for the first time since July 2022.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was marginally up, while the Topix lost 0.24%. Japan’s trade deficit in August narrowed by two-thirds on a year-on-year basis, while imports and exports recorded a smaller fall than expected.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.33%, while South Korea’s Kospi was just below the flatline and the Kosdaq was down 0.71%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped 0.26% after the LPR announcement, and mainland Chinese markets were also in negative territory, with the CSI 300 falling 0.33%
On Tuesday in the U.S., all three major indexes lost ground ahead of the Fed’s decision, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.31%.
The broad-market S&P 500 slid 0.22%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.23%.
