Stocks in Asia slip as investors digest Fed minutes

FAN Editor

Stocks in Asia traded lower on Thursday morning following a choppy session on Wall Street as traders tried to interpret a release from the Federal Reserve.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.27 percent in early trade while the Topix declined 0.3 percent. Shares of Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group fell more than 1.3 percent.

The Kospi in South Korea also declined 0.45 percent, with shares of Samsung Electronics shedding 1.17 percent, hours after the company unveiled its new series of Galaxy smartphones.

The ASX 200 in Australia bucked the overall trend as it rose around 0.2 percent as the heavily weighted financial subindex added 0.71 percent. Shares of the country’s so-called Big Four banks mostly gained: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group advanced 1.14 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia added 1.14 percent, Westpac gained 0.64 percent. Shares of the National Australia Bank were slightly higher.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite closed just above the flatline at 7,489.07, notching its eighth consecutive gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 63.12 points to close at 25,954.44 and the S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to finish at 2,784.70.

The moves followed the release of minutes from the Fed’s January meeting, which highlighted downside risks, including “the possibilities of a sharper-than-expected slowdown in global economic growth, particularly in China and Europe, a rapid waning of fiscal policy stimulus, or a further tightening of financial market conditions.”

The minutes showed extensive discussion of market conditions, particularly on the emphasis that Fed actions were having on prices of risky assets like stocks and corporate bonds.

The Fed also judged that a “patient” approach to interest rate hikes would be prudent as it continued to weigh various headwinds to growth.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.454 after seeing lows below 96.4 earlier.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.71 against the dollar after touching an earlier session low of 110.87. The Australian dollar was at $0.7165 after seeing lows around $0.714 yesterday.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

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