Stocks steady ahead of the Fed meeting

As markets anticipated further clues on U.S. interest rates from the end of a Federal Reserve meeting later in the day, the majority of Asian equities stabilised in cautious trade on Wednesday.

The Bank of Japan struck a mainly dovish note on Tuesday, even as it hiked interest rates for the first time in 17 years, which buoyed regional markets. However, Wednesday's closure of the Japanese markets reduced Asian trade volumes.

Due to some momentum in energy and technology companies, Wall Street indices ended the night higher. Yet, with mounting concerns about the Fed, U.S. stock index futures saw a little decline in Asian trading.

Asia's top performance was South Korea's KOSPI, which increased 1.1% following a 4.4% surge in Samsung.

Following Nikkei's report that NVIDIA was thinking about integrating Samsung's high bandwidth memory chips in its artificial intelligence processors, the electronics behemoth saw a sharp increase in value.

With the exception of the KOSPI, investors avoided placing substantial wagers ahead of the Fed on Wednesday, causing the other Asian market indices to essentially remain flat.

The end of a Fed meeting later on Wednesday was the main focus of the markets. Although it is generally anticipated that the central bank will maintain current interest rates, any indications regarding its intentions to lower rates in 2024 will be keenly monitored.

The Fed's policy statement and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference following the meeting are of special interest.

Following the prior two months' hotter-than-expected inflation numbers, markets were especially cautious about any hawkish hints.

Over in the UK, according to statistics released on Wednesday, British inflation slowed down in February by a little more than predicted by analysts and the Bank of England. This might give the central bank greater confidence to lower interest rates in the months ahead.

The Office for National Statistics reported on Wednesday that consumer prices increased by a somewhat less than anticipated 3.4% annually in February, decelerating from a 4.0% increase in January and representing the lowest rate of inflation since September 2021.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)