Tokyo, Japan – Most Asian stocks experienced a downturn on Tuesday amid ongoing concerns surrounding the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting, although Japan’s Nikkei 225 managed to turn positive after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) implemented a rate hike while maintaining a dovish stance.
Despite a positive close on Wall Street overnight, U.S. stock index futures declined during Asian trading hours, with a mild rebound in the technology sector fizzling out.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting, anticipating potential hawkish signals amidst persistent inflation concerns.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index initially faced losses but eventually rose by 0.3%, while the broader TOPIX index gained 0.6% after paring back a significant portion of its earlier losses.
The BOJ announced a historic 0.1% interest rate hike, its first in 17 years, and signaled an end to its yield curve control policies, including asset purchases from open markets. However, the central bank emphasized that monetary conditions would remain accommodative, reflecting ongoing worries about the Japanese economy’s weakness.
Elsewhere, Australia’s ASX 200 advanced by 0.3% following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to maintain interest rates at their current levels, albeit with less hawkish language than expected.
However, in China, both the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes declined by 0.3% each, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped by 1.2% due to losses in technology stocks.
Meanwhile, India’s Nifty 50 index fell by 0.5%, struggling to recover from recent declines.
In the technology sector, major Asian stocks, particularly those involved in artificial intelligence, retreated following a post-market drop in NVIDIA Corporation’s shares after the company unveiled its latest line of AI chips, named Blackwell. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd saw declines in South Korea’s KOSPI, while Advantest Corp. and Tokyo Electron Ltd. experienced losses in Japan.
Nvidia’s announcement of its new AI chips failed to provide pricing details, contributing to the downturn in tech stocks across the region.