Asia-Pacific markets saw mixed movement early in Thursday's Asian session, following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about growing risks from U.S. trade policy.
By 11 am AEST (1 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1%. In contrast, South Korea’s Kospi 200 edged up 0.4%.
Market focus remains on upcoming U.S.-China trade discussions, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set to meet his Chinese counterpart in Switzerland later this week.
In a policy move seen as supportive ahead of the talks, China eased financial conditions, cutting its required reserve ratio by 50 basis points and lowering its key policy rate by 10 basis points to 1.4%.
Among data releases, Bank of Japan policymakers were split in March over the timing of future rate hikes, with one member warning that escalating U.S. tariff policies could significantly harm Japan's economy:
"Downside risks stemming from U.S. policy conduct had rapidly heightened and, depending on future developments in its tariff policy, it was quite possible that these risks would even have a significant negative impact on Japan's real economy." the minutes showed.
In the U.S. overnight, Wall Street closed higher as traders digested the Fed’s widely expected decision to hold interest rates steady. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.7%, the S&P 500 gained 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3%.
In commodities, Brent crude declined 1.6% to US$61.12 per barrel, while spot gold dropped 2% to US$3,364.36 per ounce.
Chinese equities rallied to four-week highs. The Shanghai Composite advanced 26.6 points, or 0.8%, to 3,342.7, and the CSI 300 index added 23.1 points, or 0.6%, to 3,831.6.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 29.2 points, or 0.1%, to 22,691.9.
India’s BSE Sensex edged up 0.1% to 80,746.8.
In Europe, markets closed lower. London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.4% to 8,559.3, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.6% to 23,116.0, and France’s CAC 40 shed 0.9% to 7,626.8.
