Sunset scene of light trails traffic speeds through an intersection in Gangnam center business district of Seoul at Seoul city, South Korea
Mongkol Chuewong | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to open mostly higher on Wednesday as investors digest the latest comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell said Tuesday that the central bank would have already cut interest rates if it weren’t for U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff initiatives.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,665 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 39,570, against the index’s last close of 39,986.33.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is set to open higher with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,558 compared to its last close of 8,541.1. Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,170, higher than its last close of 24,072.28.
U.S. stock futures were little changed early Asian hours after investors began the second half of the year with a reduced appetite for technology stocks.
Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed mixed. The S&P 500 inched down 0.11% and closed at 6,198.01, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.82% to settle at 20,202.89. The blue-chip Dow was the outlier, gaining 400.17 points, or 0.91%, to end at 44,494.94.
— CNBC's Sean Conlon and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.