Yusuf Gandhi | 500Px | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday as investors digested U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff impact on regional economies.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, meanwhile, re-emphasized on Tuesday the central bank’s focus on curbing inflation and signaled that policymakers were not in a rush to push interest rates lower.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded around the flatline.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.28% after resuming trading following a holiday, while the Topix slid 0.22%. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.23% and the small-cap Kosdaq lost 0.47%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.93% while mainland China’s CSI 300 traded around the flatline.
India is slated to report its inflation data for January. SoftBank Group will be posting its fiscal third-quarter earnings later in the day.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages closed mixed. The S&P 500 added 0.03% to end at 6,068.50, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.36% to close at 19,643.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 123.24 points, or 0.28%, to 44,593.65.
Powell’s testimony comes at a volatile time in Washington with President Donald Trump favoring tariffs against U.S. trading partners and with mixed messages coming from the administration on its approach to the Fed.
Powell said the current policy stance, with the benchmark Fed funds rate in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%, is providing flexibility. The Federal Open Market Committee held the rate in place at its late-January meeting.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Pia Singh and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
