Tokyo markets will be closed for another holiday on Thursday, with the highly-anticipated BOJ meeting sandwiched in between the market closures.
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Drug companies helped health care stocks make some modest gains, while Exxon Mobil fell on reports it is being investigated by securities regulators.
Reuters pointed that “the expected reduction in the longer-run neutral rate forecast amounts to a lower speed limit on future rate hikes, and points to fewer increases with longer gaps between them than US central bankers and investors had expected”.
In the absence of a rate hike, something that most are forecasting won’t arrive at this meeting (markets have a 0.25% increase at around a one in five chance), all attention will be on the accompanying monetary policy statement, updated economic forecasts, including the expected pathway for the Fed funds rate expected by committee members, along with a press conference from US Fed chair, Janet Yellen, that will begin at 4.30am AEST. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 8 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,147. The Nasdaq composite fell 9.54 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,235.03.
Advertisment Equity markets in Canada’s largest market rose on Tuesday as financial and industrial stocks made gains, while the energy sector weighed with a pullback in oil prices.
Gilead Sciences gained 2.79 dollars (£2.13), or 3.5%, to 81.78 dollars (£62.71) after the hepatitis C drugmaker completed a five billion (£3.83 billion) debt offering. The company bought Ann Taylor a year ago and also struggled with discounts from competitors and shaky demand. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent. Allergan, the maker of Botox, announced yet another acquisition: Tobira Therapeutics, which is studying drugs to treat symptoms of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a disease that can lead to cirrhosis, cancer, and liver failure.
Tobira shares skyrocketed to $33.44 and Allergan fell $6.35, or 2.6 percent, to $238.94. Wagers that the Bank of Japan may move to lift long-term yields at its meeting this week helped push USA 30-year bonds to a 4.4 percent loss this month through September 19.
The US dollar got its biggest boost on Tuesday from selling of the British pound, which was last down 0.4 per cent to US$1.2975 after earlier hitting its lowest against the greenback since Aug 16. Spot gold (XAU=) was up 0.1 percent at $1,314.54 an ounce. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.67 percent from 1.71 percent.
In the currency market, the US dollar traded in the upper 101 yen-range on Wednesday.
The euro was flat at 113.38 yen after earlier touching 113.23, its lowest since August 26.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 25 cents to $43.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
United States stocks were slightly higher Tuesday as the meeting got underway, with the broad S&P 500 up 0.1 percent, while the dollar was little-changed at $1.1166 per euro and at 101.68 yen. Brent crude, used to price worldwide oils, slipped 49 cents to $45.46 a barrel in London.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,593 to 1,310.
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The same air of caution was similarly seen in other markets in the region: Tokyo slid 0.16 per cent on a stronger yen as it reopened after a holiday, while Shanghai eased 0.1 per cent and Hong Kong dipped 0.08 per cent.
