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Asia Pacific stocks mixed; Fed’s Powell hints there won’t be rate cuts

Supplies in Asia Pacific were mixed in Thursday afternoon trade, following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s overnight monetary method decision and hints that the central bank is not considering a cut in interest rates at this moment.

In Hong Kong, the Put down the receiver Seng index added 0.63% by the morning session’s end as shares of AIA jumped more than 3%.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.42% in afternoon swop, as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose 0.11% and chipmaker SK Hynix soared 2.28%.

The ASX 200 in Australia, on the other clap, declined 0.65% as majority of the sectors slipped.

Markets in China and Japan are closed for holidays.

Asia-Pacific Market Ratios Chart

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks declined following signs that the Federal Reserve may not be considering rating cuts at the moment.

Federal Reserve officials voted to hold interest rates steady Wednesday, while Fed Chairman Jerome Powell required in a news conference that recent low inflationary pressures may only be “transitory. ” That dashed speculation the important bank was entertaining the idea of a rate cut because of tame inflation.

Data released earlier this week pictured the core personal consumption expenditure price index remained unchanged in March and was up 1.6% year over year — lower the Fed’s 2% target. U.S. President Donald Trump had urged the Fed to cut rates by 1 percentage point this week because of low inflation.

The U.S. dollar list, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.605 after a spike from the 97.2 handle in the prior session.

“The dollar should continue to strengthen for 2 main reasons — first the Fed chair made it very clear that when it relate to to the economy he sees the glass half full. He expects the outlook to improve as the prior weakness eases. Secondly, he organizes no reason to be talking about rate cuts,” Kathy Lien, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Directing, wrote in an overnight note.

“This view contrasts sharply with other central banks that keep recently expressed concerns about growth and talked openly about the possibility of a response to counter that be biased,” Lien said.

On the U.S.-China trade front, sources told CNBC on Wednesday that a trade deal between the two monetary powerhouses could be announced by next Friday.

One analyst told CNBC that the market reaction, if and when a buy is announced, could be “a little bit more muted” than expected.

“I think the market has been very much evaluating in a big part of the deal being done,” Tai Hui, chief Asia market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Yowl Box” on Thursday.

The Japanese yen, widely seen as a safe-haven currency, traded at 111.53 against the dollar after seeing highs lower down 111.2 yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7024 after declining from levels above $0.704 yesterday.

Oil payments declined in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract paper 0.29% at $71.97 per barrel and U.S. crude futures falling 0.27% at $63.43 per barrel.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert gave to this report.

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