Asian stocks mostly down ahead of Fed meeting
Investors are looking for clues as to when the central bank will start raising interest rates.
Investors are looking for clues as to when the central bank will start raising interest rates.
Asian stocks ended the week on a mixed note today (September 11th) as investors await the US Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates next week. They are looking for clues as to when the central bank will start raising interest rates from their historically low levels.
Fresh data highlighting a drop in applications for unemployment claims strengthened the case for an early rate hike.
"We're going through quite a fragile time, and we'll have to see how it evolves from here. That will depend on Fed action, as well as whether there's further negative news from China," Veronika Pechlaner, European equity fund manager at Ashburton told Reuters.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.3 per cent to 21,504.37 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5 per cent to 5,071.08. Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2 per cent to 18,264.22 and South Korea's Kospi shed one per cent to 1941.37. China's Shanghai Composite Index edged up less than 0.1 per cent to 3,200.45.