Asian stocks flat on US rate hike speculation
Despite today’s weak session, Asian stocks reported their strongest monthly performance in years.
Asian stocks markets remained flat today (October 30th) on renewed speculation that the US Federal Reserve was going to raise interest rates before the end of the year.
The central bank has decided to keep US interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. However, officials have suggested that they had become less concerned in recent weeks about the slowing down of the economy overseas.
They signalled that they will assess if it was time to raise rates at their next meeting, as the US economy was still expanding at a moderate pace.
Despite today's weak session, Asian stocks reported their strongest monthly performance in years in October after fears about China's economy eased and global central banks kept stimulus policies intact.
According to Reuters, markets in the region were poised for their best month since 2012.
Japan's Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2 per cent to 18,974.90, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.2 per cent at 22,775.25 and South Korea's Kospi remained flat at 2,034.74. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.1 per cent to 3,391.41 while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 per cent to 5,257.30.
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