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Kazuo Ueda, governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ).
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to fall ahead of the Bank of Japan’s rate decision, which investors will be closely watching to determine if the central bank will make any change to its ultra-easy monetary policy
A poll of Reuters economists showed that economists all expect the BOJ to hold its benchmark policy rate at -0.1%.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has maintained that an ultra-easy monetary policy is needed until Japan sees a sustained inflation at 2%. Japan’s headline inflation figures have remained above this target since April 2022, with the latest reading coming in at 3.2% for August.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is set to extend losses and fall ahead of the BOJ decision, with the futures contract in Chicago at 32,070 and its counterpart in Osaka at 32,000 against the index’s last close of 32,571.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 is poised to extend four straight days of losses, with futures at 7,013 compared to the last close of 7,065.2.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 17,585, also pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 17,655.41.
On Thursday in the U.S., all three major indexes notched a third straight day of losses as Treasury yields popped to multiyear highs and investors grew worried that lawmakers would be unable to prevent a shutdown.
The Nasdaq Composite led losses and retreated 1.82%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.08%. The S&P 500 slid 1.64%.
— CNBC’s Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
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