SINGAPORE — Shares in Australia looked set for a higher start on Wednesday, with investors looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision expected later stateside.
Futures pointed to a higher open for Australian stocks. The SPI futures contract was at 7,328, against the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 7,316.20.
Markets in Japan and mainland China are closed on Wednesday for holidays.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday for the second time since 2018. The central bank is also expected to launch a program to reduce its bond holdings by $95 billion a month starting in June.
The Fed is expected to hike interest rates and slash its balance sheet aggressively over the next 16 months, and majority of the respondents in the May CNBC Fed Survey see the process leading to a recession.
Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 climbed 0.48% to 4,175.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 67.29 points, or 0.2%, to 33,128.79. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.22% to 12,563.76.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.465 — off levels above 103.6 seen earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 130.13 per dollar, having traded around the 130 level for much of the week so far. The Australian dollar was at $0.7097, still above levels below $0.708 seen earlier in the week.
— CNBC’s Patti Domm contributed to this report.
