NewzHONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday despite losses on Wall Street, as investors await the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates, with high expectations of a rate hike. There is widespread expectation that the Fed will hike rates Wednesday for the first time in three years as inflation remains elevated in the U.S. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% to 63,721.89, despite official data showing that Japan recorded a fourth consecutive month of trade deficit in August.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.3% to 6,711.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.1% to 24,700.62. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.6% to 3,886.48.
Artificial intelligence -related stocks remained volatile following U.S. AI leaders’ calls to slow development of the technology to ensure safety. SoftBank Group, a key investor in OpenAI, dropped 1% after rising 7.5% the day before.
Chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron rose 1.4%, while Japanese memory maker Kioxia Holdings also lost 2.9%. South Korea’s memory chipmaker SK Hynix climbed 2.9%. Taiwan’s leading AI chipmaker TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., rose 0.2%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 8,694.20. Oil prices stabilized early Wednesday after rising on Tuesday as tensions dragged on between the U.S. and Iran, and as Saudi Arabia’s crucial oil pipeline closure added pressure on global oil supply.
Brent crude, the international standard, was 0.5% lower at $108.18 a barrel, but still well above the around $72 per barrel level before the start of the war in late February. crude fell 0.8% to $104.94 a barrel. On Tuesday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.5%.
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