SINGAPORE- Asian stocks slipped and the dollar was perched near a two-year high on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cautioned it would temper the pace of rate cuts next year, while the yen dipped after the Bank of Japan kept rates steady.
The Fed’s hawkish shift sent Wall Street lower and Asian stocks followed suit on Thursday, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 1.6 percent. Tech-heavy Taiwan stocks fell 1.2 percent and Australian shares slid nearly 2 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 1,000 points on Wednesday.
The dour mood is likely to move over to Europe, with Eurostoxx 50 futures down 1.5 percent, German DAX futures 1.2 percent lower and FTSE futures sliding 1 percent.
The yen touched a one-month low of 155.48 per dollar after the BOJ’s decision to hold rates, as expected.
The Japanese currency traded around 155.3 to the dollar, near the weaker end of the range it has held this year while under pressure from a strong dollar and a wide interest rate disadvantage.
The yen is down more than 8 percent in 2024 against the dollar and is set for a fourth straight year of decline.
Investor focus will now be on comments from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda to gauge not just the timing of the next rate hike but the extent of hikes next year. Traders are currently pricing in 46 basis points of BOJ hikes by the end of 2025.
Ueda is expected to hold a press conference at 0630 GMT to explain the decision. Board member Naoki Tamura dissented and proposed raising interest rates to 0.5 percent on the view inflationary risks were building, but his proposal was voted down.
“The hawkish Fed dot plot overnight gave the BOJ an option to increase rates, and there was one dissenting vote for a 25 bps hike, so it looks like rates will be going up early in 2025,” said Ben Bennett, Asia-Pacific investment strategist at Legal and General Investment Management.
The policy decisions from the two central banks underscored the challenge facing the global economy as the biggest participant, the United States, comes under President-elect Donald Trump’s leadership early in the new year.
