Asian markets may stumble on Thursday as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its hawkish bent overnight failed to boost Wall Street much.
S&P/ASX 200 futures, or SPI, were down 6.0 points at 5871.0, trading below Wednesday’s close of 5892.342.
“The SPI predicts a soft start to Thursday trading as investors catch up with metal prices declines in overnight markets,” Tony Farnham, economic strategist at Patersons, said in a note Thursday morning. “Most base metal prices were torched in Wednesday LME trading, with spot copper, nickel and zinc prices dropping by more than 3 percent on the day.”
He added that he expected NAB’s results, which were in line with expectations, would drive sentiment.
Japan’s markets were closed for the Greenery Day holiday.
The Fed concluded its two-day policy meeting Wednesday afternoon, giving a positive assessment of the U.S. economy while keeping rates unchanged, as was widely expected.
