A public screen displays stock figures in Shanghai, China, on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022.
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Australian stocks smashed all-time records on Wednesday to set a new high.
The S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.06% and closing at 7,680.7, surpassing its previous record high of 7,632.8 set back on August 13, 2021.
This comes after the country’s fourth-quarter inflation rate was lower than expected at 4.1%, its lowest level since the quarter ended December 2021.
However, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed ahead of the rate decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve and as investors assessed a slew of economic data from across the region.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.22% in early trade, while the broad based Topix also gained 0.6%
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.21%, while the small cap Kosdaq saw a bigger loss of 2.18%.
The moves come after heavyweight Samsung Electronics reported a 34% fall in operating profit year-on-year in the fourth quarter, as well as a 73.4% plunge in net profit in the same period. Shares of Samsung fell 0.67%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1.24%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 was down 0.24% after China’s manufacturing activity shrank for the fourth straight month in January, with the official manufacturing purchasing index at 49.2.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major indexes ended the day mixed as Wall Street also waits for the latest Fed decision on interest rates.
The Fed funds futures market has priced in a 97% probability that the central bank will leave rates unchanged, according to the CME FedWatch tool, so investors are instead left anticipating a shift in the policy statement that will close out the meeting.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.06%, while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.76%. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.35% to end at 38,467.31, marking its seventh record close this year.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report
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