Asian Markets Drift Higher ahead of the Fed

The financial equity markets in the Asian and Pacific Rim drifted higher by Wednesday afternoon, Hong Kong time. Asian traders are waiting on the Federal Reserve Board to announce monetary policy and rates later today.

Volume, in the region, is lighter than normal as the financial markets in Japan are closed for a public holiday. In South Korea, the Kospi composite index was up 1.05 percent.

In corporate news, Samsung Electronics posted a first quarter net profit of $4.01 billion. This was below expectations and the electronics giant also warned that second quarter results will be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Elsewhere in the Asian region, the Australian ASX 200 was up over one percent as the heavily weighted sub-index moved higher. Shares of the so-called Big 4 banks all gained ground.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.84 percent. On the mainland, in China, the headline indices were all in the green this morning. The headline Shanghai composite added 0.4 percent and the smaller Shenzhen composite saw shares gaining 0.84 percent.

Asian Traders Look towards the Fed and U.S. GDP Data

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the monetary policy arm the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (Fed), will announce their monthly monetary policy and rate decision at 6 pm GMT.

The Federal Reserve is not expected to alter their monetary policy settings or make a move with the Fed Funds Rate (FFR), which is currently at an effective rate of zero percent.

The FOMC press conference and monetary policy statement are also of key interest to the financial markets and traders. The U.S. will be releasing advanced quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) data and they will also publish weekly oil inventory levels.

In Europe, Germany will publish monthly retail price sales data. Tomorrow the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce monetary policy. The United Kingdom is releasing annual BRC retail sales data.