Aerial view of vehicles being driven on the road through the central business district in Beijing, China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher on Wednesday as investors awaited inflation data from China later in the day and an interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve.
Traders are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s closely watched interest rate announcement on Wednesday stateside, the final one of the year. Markets largely expect the Fed to trim its benchmark overnight lending rate by another 0.25 percentage point, matching the cuts made in September and October.
Over in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.82%, while the Topix rose 0.65%. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.22% higher, while the small-cap Kosdaq slid 0.19%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 25,399, lower than their last close of 25,434.23.
Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 closed relatively unchanged. The broad market index traded around the flatline, slipping just 0.09% to close at 6,840.51, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.13% to end the day at 23,576.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 179.03 points, or 0.38%, to finish at 47,560.29. The 30-stock index was dragged down by a decline in JPMorgan shares on higher-than-expected 2026 expense projections.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Alex Harring contributed to this report.