Asia-Pacific markets might take a mixed opening today as traders take a cautious stance following the risk-off bout from last week that made global equity markets lower and US Dollar higher are waiting to see if the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday delivers a 75-basis point rate hike or a 100-bps hike to drive market sentiments.
While the economic docket for today’s APAC session is light, today’s incidence might set the tone for the FOMC. The Bank of England and Bank of Japan are also due to updating their policy rates, which might cause additional volatility in the foreign exchange markets. The BoE is expected to hike the rate to 2.25% from 1.75%, and the BoJ is keeping its policy unchanged despite extraordinary Yen weakness.
Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies traded lower overnight, which suggests that the risk aversion from last week risk aversion is yet present. The USD battered Copper, ore, and other commodities last week.
China’s Chengdu, a megacity in Sichuan province, will be reopening this week as the local government has released a statement on reopening steps for public enterprises. This information might lift industrial metals this week.
AUD/USD may rebound this week, but the outlook remains bearish on a technical basis as the Australian Dollar might benefit from China’s new policy. Though the Covid threat persists, policymakers might hesitate to announce major lockdowns as the country’s National Congress approaches. Hong Kong is set to release unemployment data for August at 08:30 GMT.
There might not be much to write about for today’s European Union market session as the United Kingdom has closed all markets in lieu of the Queen’s funeral.