BENGALURU: Stocks and currencies in emerging Asian markets struggled to find direction on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting outcome, where investors will be looking for any hints of faster policy tightening.
The Fed is expected to update its monetary policy plan later on Wednesday, with market participants awaiting clues on the pace of interest rate hikes and a timeline for policy normalization.
Equities in Manila and Seoul fell 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, while stocks in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok rose between 0.5% and 0.9% after a volatile overnight session on Wall Street.
Balanced current accounts, largely lower inflationary pressures and the stability provided by the resilient Chinese yuan to regional currencies have ensured that most Asian central banks have not been pressured to pursue interest rate hikes as aggressively as their peers in Europe and Latin America.
However, Fed tightening is putting pressure on some central banks in Asia to follow suit, potentially hurting their equity markets, similar to what happened in 2013 when the U.S. central bank began tapering its post financial crisis stimulus. “The recent central bank actions in Asia suggest that they may want to prepare for a Fed that is more hawkish than currently expected,” said Frances Cheung, rates strategist at OCBC Bank.
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