Futures on stock gauges in South Korea and Hong Kong dropped at least 0.2 percent, while those on the FTSE China A50 Index added 0.3 percent.
Advertisement
Just 5.9 billion shares changed hands on USA exchanges, well below the 7.2 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
“The market has re-priced the chances of a June rate move to 30 percent from 5 percent but the hurdles for a June hike remain substantial and gold has avoided significant technical damage, which has encouraged modest short-covering as well as continued ETF-related buying despite a hawkish lilt in Fed commentary today”, said Tai Wong, director of base and precious metals trading for BMO Capital Markets in NY.
The Fed surprised investors when the central bank’s meeting minutes released last week opened the door to a rate hike as early as in June, roiling financial markets.
“Very quiet today”, Ryan Larson, head of USA equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management, wrote in response to an email query from AP.
To justify a move at its next policy meeting in June, the Fed set itself three tests: To see additional signs of a rebound in the economy in the second quarter; further strengthening in the jobs market; and for inflation to carry on towards the Fed’s 2 per cent goal.
Securities that bet on which way the Fed will move interest rates now show that investors believe there is a 26 percent chance that interest rates will climb.
German conglomerate Bayer AG has made an all-cash offer to acquire USA competitor Monsanto for $122 per share or an aggregate value of $62 billion.
Tribune Publishing fell $2.14, or 15 percent, to $12.09 after the newspaper company rejected a new takeover offer from Gannett.
Benchmark U.S. crude shed 33 cents to $48.08 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price global oils, lost 82 cents to $47.90 per barrel in London.
Global stock markets were little changed and the US dollar gained on Monday as investors weighed the possibility that USA interest rates could soon be raised. Bayer AG fell 5.7% during the European session.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.2 percent, after Wall Street rallied on Friday, shrugging off growing expectations of tighter monetary policy.
The U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.33% was up 0.2% at 95.45 as the greenback made strides against both the Japanese yen and the euro.
Advertisement
Most Asian equity index futures signaled losses following a rebound in the yen as traders continued to weigh the prospect of tighter US monetary policy as soon as next month.
