Investing.com - Asian shares were narrowly mixed on Wednesday in cautious trade ahead of key central bank meetings in the U.S. and Japan next week.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.23% as speculation on further Bank of Japan easing was stoked on Wednesday by an article in the Nikkei business daily that said the central bank next week may widen its negative interest rate policy as an asset buying target, which includes government debt, of ¥80 trillion reaches saturation point.
Earlier in Australia, the Westpac consumer sentiment index for September rose 0.3%, well below the 1.0% rise seen. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.12%. In China, the Shanghai Composite drifted down 0.22%.
As well, the New Zealand second quarter current account came in at a deficit of NZ$945 million quarter-on-quarter, compared to NZ$410 million seen, and a NZ$7.38 billion gap year-on-year compared to NZ$6.74 billion expected, hitting 2.90% of GDP against 2.70% seen. The deficit was wider than expected due mainly to fall in services surplus with New Zealanders traveling overseas spending a record NZ$1.4 billion.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.41% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index lost 1.48%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.09%.
Investors now expect that the Fed will hold next week after Fed Governor Lael Brainard warned against raising interest rates too quickly. Markets are pricing in a 15% chance of a rate hike at the Fed's September 20-21 meeting, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
In a speech on Monday, Brainard said economic progress continues in the U.S., but the Fed would be wise to continue keeping policy loose.
The comments came after Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said on Friday that low interest rates are increasing the chance of overheating the U.S. economy.