Asian stocks mostly higher ahead of Fed’s interest rate decision

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday despite losses on Wall Street, as investors await the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates, with high expectations of a rate hike.

U.S. futures also edged higher. There is widespread expectation that the Fed will hike rates Wednesday for the first time in three years as inflation remains elevated in the U.S. and above the Fed’s target.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% to 63,721.89, despite official data showing that Japan recorded a fourth consecutive month of trade deficit in August.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.3% to 6,711.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.1% to 24,700.62. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.6% to 3,886.48.

Artificial intelligence -related stocks remained volatile following U.S. AI leaders’ calls to slow development of the technology to ensure safety.

SoftBank Group, a key investor in OpenAI, dropped 1% after rising 7.5% the day before. Chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron rose 1.4%, while Japanese memory maker Kioxia Holdings also lost 2.9%.

South Korea’s memory chipmaker SK Hynix climbed 2.9%. Samsung Electronics was up 1.9%.

Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 1.1%. Taiwan’s leading AI chipmaker TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., rose 0.2%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 8,694.20.

India’s Sensex gained 0.4%.

Oil prices stabilized early Wednesday after rising on Tuesday as tensions dragged on between the U.S. and Iran, and as Saudi Arabia’s crucial oil pipeline closure added pressure on global oil supply.

Brent crude, the international standard, was 0.5% lower at $108.18 a barrel, but still well above the around $72 per barrel level before the start of the war in late February.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 0.8% to $104.94 a barrel.

On Tuesday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8%.

AI stocks in the U.S. were steadying. Nvidia climbed 0.6%, while Advanced Micro Devices rose 2.2%.

Higher U.S. Treasury yields have put pressure on the stock market. The yields on government bonds have risen as the Iran war-caused energy crisis added to inflationary pressure while the U.S.’s national debt grew.

The 10-year Treasury was at 4.98% early Wednesday, after it briefly touched 5.04% this week in its highest level in years.

In other dealings, the U.S. dollar rose to 155.36 Japanese yen from 155.10 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1543, down from $1.1544.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.