EQUITIES
Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower in Wednesday trade as investors look ahead for U.S. Fed’s meeting later today.
In South Korea, the KOSPI declined 1.29% to led losses regionally. Mainland Chinese stocks also nudged lower, with the Shanghai composite slipped 0.38%, while the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.97%. In Southeast Asia, the Singapore’s Straits Times index was down 0.41%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia bucked the overall trend, to advance 0.90%.
Markets in Japan are closed on Wednesday for a holiday.
OIL
Oil prices fell on Wednesday as API data pointed to a big build in crude oil and distillate stocks in the U.S., and as traders also looked toward Thursday's OPEC+ meeting.
The American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday mentioned crude stocks rose by 3.6 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 29, while gasoline inventories fell by 552,000 barrels and distillate stocks rose by 573,000 barrels.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration will be released later on Wednesday.
The Brent now traded at $84.04 per barrel, and U.S. crude futures traded at $82.86 per barrel.
Overnight, the Brent ends at $84.72 a barrel, and the WTI settled at $83.91 per barrel.
CURRENCIES
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 94.077, little changed as investors await the Federal Reserve's plans regarding the massive stimulus tapering.
U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were steady at 1.554%, a little off last month's recent top of 1.7%.
GOLD
Gold prices inched lower on Wednesday. Spot gold fell 0.40% to $1,780.70 per ounce, and U.S. gold futures also dropped 0.40% to $1,782.40.
Spot silver eased to $23.49 per ounce, platinum slipped 0.18% to $1,037.40, while palladium gained 0.63% to $2,020.00.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Asian shares failed to follow a strong lead from Wall Street overnight. Investors looked to the expected winding down of pandemic-era monetary stimulus in the U.S.
The Federal Reserve will release a statement at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, when it is expected to announce the start of tapering its bond-buying program, paring its monthly asset purchases by $15 billion each month until ending them by mid-2022. Investors will also be focused on commentary about interest rates and how sustained the recent surge in inflation is. Markets also are pricing an interest rate hike at the Bank of England meeting on Thursday.
China Evergrande reportedly has completed delivery of 184 property projects in the July to October period, the company said on Wednesday. In a statement, the firm said it had delivered homes to 57,462 owners over the period. Asian equities stay wary amid the contagion from China Evergrande Group's debt crisis. A debt exchange from one of the country's top homebuilders triggered a flurry of credit warnings.
A private survey released Wednesday showed growing Chinese services activity in October, with the Caixin/Markit services PMI coming in at 53.8, rising from September’s reading of 53.4. China’s official non-manufacturing PMI for October came in at 52.4 over the weekend, a decline from the September reading of 53.2.
More earnings reports are scheduled on Wednesday, including CVS Health, Humana, Qualcomm, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive and Roku.
