Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Wednesday, despite the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders picked up stocks at a bargain following the recent sell-off. Trades are also cautious ahead to the US Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. Asian Markets closed sharply lower on Tuesday.

The Fed is likely to leave interest rates unchanged, although the accompanying statement could hint at the first rate hike as early as the next meeting in mid-March. Markets expect the central bank to announce four hikes this year to rein in inflation.

Lingering worries about the surge in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in several countries contribute as well to the bearish mood in the market.

The Australian stock market is closed on account of Australia Day holiday on Wednesday. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.716 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei index falling below the 27,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders cautiously look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today.

Lingering concerns about the impact of the rapid spread of the coronavirus Omicron variant remain. Japan topped 60,000 daily new cases for the first time and hit record highs each day since last week, with daily count of new cases standing at 62,599 on Tuesday.

The government is preparing to put 18 more prefectures under virus quasi-emergency measures following the 17 out of the 47 prefectures already under quasi-state of emergency from Friday for three weeks.