Asian stocks open mostly negative ahead of Fed decision

Asian stocks opened on Wednesday mixed between negative and positive, with the Chinese, Japanese, New Zealand stocks and Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling, while Australian stocks and the South Korean Kospi index rose, amid broad anticipation for the upcoming US Federal Reserve decision and its Gov.Jerome Powell's press conference after the decision, while markets are parsing the recent developments in the US-China trade file.

The US Federal Reserve's monetary policy makers are widely expected to hold interest rates at between 1.75% and 2.00%, in addition to the FOMC members' forecasts on growth, inflation and unemployment as well as the future interest rates for the next 3 years.

To the latest developments in the US-China trade file, yesterday the White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said that the US Dec. 15 tariffs on China are still "on the table" even before their date, which came after the Wall Street Journal reporting that the US and China are close to delaying the next tariffs hike, in efforts to reach a trade deal.

As for trading, Japanese stock indices were lower during today's session, as the Topix index fell by 0.4% or 7.31 point to 1,713.46, and Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.25% or 58.93 points to 23,351.26.

While the Chinese stocks fell, as the CSI 300 index fell by 0.15% or 5.77 points to 3,894.61, and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.03% or 0.86 points to 2,916.46.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.05% or 12.58 points to 26,424.04, and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.28% or 5.98 points to 2,103.98.

To New Zealand's NZX 50, which fell by 0.20% or 22.92 points to 11,261.30, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose by 0.23% or 15.29 points to 6,722.20.