Asian equities mixed after Wall St falls on interest rate hike concerns | Business news

By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Monday after Wall Street fell on concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as early as March.

Shanghai and Hong Kong made progress. Seoul and Sydney refused. The Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

Investors were upset last week after notes from the latest Fed meeting revealed that officials believed the US job market is healthy enough that it may no longer need ultra-low interest rates and other stimulus measures.

That was bolstered by US employment figures showing stronger-than-expected wages on Friday, albeit with only about half as many employees as forecast.

The prospect of past rate hikes “suggests that markets are still plagued by volatility,” Mizuho Bank’s Tan Boon Heng said in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2% to 3,587.69 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.9% to 23,702.90.

The Kospi in Seoul fell 1.2% to 2,919.46 and the S&P ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.1% to 7,444.70.

Investors were cautious after Fed officials said in December that plans to roll back the ultra-low interest rates and other economic incentives that have pushed up stock prices could accelerate to cool U.S. inflation now at a four-decade high. state.

On Friday, Wall Street’s S&P 500 index fell 0.4% to 4,677.03, or about 2.5% below its record high on January 3.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1% to 36,231.66. The Nasdaq composite fell 1% to 14,935.90.

Investors estimate a greater than 79% chance that the Fed will raise short-term interest rates in March. A month ago, according to CME Group, they saw less than a 39% chance of this.

Record-low interest rates have helped share prices rise despite turmoil over the coronavirus pandemic.

The Fed has already slowed down purchases of bonds that pumped money into the financial system to lower commercial credit rates. Notes from the December meeting indicated that Fed officials may be halting such purchases sooner than previously planned.

In the energy markets, the US benchmark rose 17 cents to $79.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 56 cents to $78.90 on Friday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 20 cents to $81.95 a barrel in London. It lost 24 cents the previous session to $81.75.

The dollar gained from 115.56 yen on Friday to 115.79 yen. The euro fell from $1.1362 to $1.1337.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.