Asian Shares Inch Higher In Cautious Trade Ahead Of Fed Decision

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks rose broadly on Wednesday as bond yields dipped ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the day.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep rates steady, but the focus will be about what Fed officials say about lowering rates.

The yen hovered near a four-month low against the dollar and gold held steady while oil prices slipped after hitting a four-month high in the previous session, following Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.

Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday. Chinese shares closed higher as encouraging factory output and retail sales data released earlier this week offset investor worries over the country's deepening property market crisis.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rose 0.55 percent to 3,079.69 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged up marginally to 16,543.07.

The People's Bank of China held its one year and five-year loan prime rates steady at 3.45 percent and 3.95 percent respectively today after cutting the over-five-year rate by 25 basis points last month.

Seoul stocks led regional gains as Samsung Electronics' shares spiked after reports that Nvidia is looking to procure high-bandwidth memory chips from the company.

Shares of Samsung Electronics soared 5.6 percent while the benchmark Kospi average settled 1.28 percent higher at 2,690.14. Rival SK Hynix declined 2.3 percent on the prospect of more competition from Samsung.

Australian markets ended on a flat note, giving up early gains. Higher crude prices lifted energy stocks while banks reversed early gains.

Gold miners underperformed, with Newmont and Northern Star Resources falling around 3 percent each ahead of the Fed decision.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P NZX-50 index rose 0.13 percent to 11,832.71.

U.S. stocks reversed initial losses to end higher overnight as Treasury yields dipped broadly and Nvidia shares edged up for the second day after the company unveiled its new generation of artificial intelligence chips.

In economic releases, February housing starts and building permits data beat expectations.

The Dow jumped 0.8 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent to mark a record close and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.4 percent.