Markets in the Asia-Pacific region rose in early trading on Monday as market participants looked forward to the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision scheduled to be announced on Wednesday.
The S&P ASX 200 was trading 0.12% higher at 7,564.90 as of 6:18am. This week, traders will focus on Australia's fourth quarter inflation figures, which will be released on Wednesday.
The Nikkei 225 was trading 0.46% higher at 35,913.65 as of 6:19 a.m. As of 6:20 a.m., KOSPI was up 0.45% at 2,490.
Bloomberg reports that Wall Street is on the brink of speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve could engineer a soft landing as the U.S. economy remains fairly resilient and inflation is showing signs of subsidence. Traders pushed U.S. stocks toward yet another all-time high.
As of Friday, the S&P 500 index was down 0.07% and the Nasdaq 100 index was down 0.55%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.16%.
Brent crude oil was trading 0.48% higher at $83.95 per barrel. Gold rose 0.12% to $2,020.89 an ounce.
India's benchmark stock index ended the week lower on Thursday, weighed down by declines in index heavyweights HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.
On a weekly basis, the indexes ended the second week in a row with declines, with both the Nifty and Sensex falling by 1% this week. NSE Nifty 50 fell 101.35 points or 0.47% to settle at 21,352.60, while S&P BSE Sensex fell 359.64 points or 0.51% to end at 70,700.67.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of Indian stocks for the seventh consecutive session on Thursday. Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 2,144.1 million, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 3,474.9 million, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.
The Indian currency rose two paise to close at 83.11 rupees against the US dollar.
