Asian Stocks Slip Lower on Trade Worries

Asian markets were on the back foot today as Asian traders took a cautious stance before today’s Federal Reserve interest rate announcement. Regional traders are also worried with conflicting headlines surrounding China and the United States who are locked in a bitter trade dispute.

The Asian benchmark, in Japan, the Nikkei 225, was trading higher after slipping at the start. Shares of Fast Retailing advancing rose 0.6 percent. The broader Topix index, was also up a fraction.

In Japanese corporate news, shares of Sony and Nintendo fell over three percent. This comes after Google’s overnight announcement regarding its own video game streaming platform.

In South Korea, the Kospi composite index was down one percent. Shares of blue chip Samsung Electronics shed percent. Samsung announced that they expect “many difficulties” this year.

On the mainland, in China, both the Shanghai composite and the smaller Shenzhen composite fell over one percent by the afternoon.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index lost over a half percent. Shares of Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi shed 4.75 percent. They did, however, report better than expected fourth quarter earnings, fiscal year 2018.

Asian Traders Wait on Today’s Federal Reserve Monetary Policy Announcement

At 6 pm GMT, during the North American trade hours, the monetary policy arm of the Fed, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) will announce their rate decision and hold a news conference.

The FOMC is expected to keep rates as is but take a patient and dovish stance when it comes to future rate hikes. They are also expected to slash economic forecasts and inflation expectations.

Traders are now thinking that there might be a rate cut in 2020.