Asia stock markets: BOJ meeting, Japan unemployment
A pedestrian walks past the Bank of Japan (BoJ) building in central Tokyo on July 28, 2023.
Richard A. Brooks | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to fall on Tuesday as the Bank of Japan kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting.
When the meeting concludes Wednesday, the BOJ is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate and trim its Japanese government bond purchases. Economists polled by Reuters expect the BOJ to increase its benchmark interest rate to 0.1%, up from the current range of 0% to 0.1%.
Data expected Tuesday include Japan’s July unemployment rate, which is forecast to hold steady at 2.6%, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a weaker open for the market after jumping more than 2% on Monday, with the futures contract in Chicago at 38,330 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,290 compared to the previous close of 38,468.63.
Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood at 7,900, slightly lower than its last close of 7,989.6.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,212, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,238,34.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major indexes ended mixed, with the S&P 500 marginally higher as Wall Street geared up for a busy week of corporate earnings and looked ahead to a key policy announcement from the U.S. central bank.
Economists don’t expect the Fed to make any changes to the federal funds rate during this meeting, but traders will look for clues on whether the central bank will cut rates in September.
The broad market index gained 0.08%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.07%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.12%.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
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