Asia Pacific Markets Trade Mixed ahead of US Interest Rate Announcement 

Asia Pacific major indices were mixed on Wednesday morning (1 Nov, 9:30 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), after China’s October S&P Manufacturing PMI published at 49.5, a one point lower than 50.6 in previous month. However, all eyes will be kept on the US Federal Reserve interest rate announcement tonight, which is expected to hold rates at 5.25% to 5.5% range.

 

Japan’s NIKKEI jumped by 1.7% to 31,381.94. South Korea’s KOSPI climbed by 0.51% to 2,889.71 and Australia’s ASX 200 rose by 0.44% to 6,810.60.

As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC edged down by 0.01 to 3,018.38. Hong Kong’s HSI fell by 0.48% to 17,030.02 and Shenzhen’s SZI declined by 0.42% to 9,822.02.

 

Meanwhile, the US markets remained positive across the board, but only a few stocks dropped significantly, namely, 2% on LLY and 6% on CAT.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed by 0.38% to 33,052.87. NASDAQ gained by 0.48% to 12,581.24 and S&P 500 rose by 0.65% to 4,193.8. On the other hand, VIX fell by 8.15% to 18.14 as the markets climbed.

 

As for the commodities, there’s a rollover on crude oil futures last night as the December contract series expired. However, the next January series price fell by around 1.5% due to the rising oil output from both OPEC and the US. Brent declined by 1.4% to $85.02 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell by 1.6% to $81.02 a barrel.

As for this morning, Brent slightly rose by 0.22% to $85.21 a barrel, as well as WTI that rose by 0.22% to $81.11 per barrel. Furthermore, the gold futures fell by 0.3% to $1,988 per Troy ounce.