Asian Markets Mixed Ahead of Fed Chair Powell's Speech

Tokyo, Aug 22 (AP) Asian shares traded mixed Thursday, despite some optimism following a rally on Wall Street on better-than-expected profit reports from major companies.

Trading is likely to stay relatively quiet ahead of the annual conference of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a much-anticipated speech. The hope is he'll offer clues about how deeply and quickly the Fed will begin cutting interest rates in September after it jacked them to a two-decade high to beat inflation.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.6 per cent in morning trading to 38,190.85. Australia's SandP/ASX 200 rose 0.2 per cent to 8,029.40.

South Korea's Kospi shed 0.1 per cent to 2,697.43. The Bank of Korea is holding its monetary policy meeting, where no rate action is expected, although views are divided on how the votes will go.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.1 per cent to 17,413.42, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed at 2,855.16.

On Wall Street, the SandP 500 rose 0.4 per cent a day after breaking an eight-day winning streak, its longest of the year. The index is back to 5,620.85 — within 0.8 per cent of its all-time high set in July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1 per cent to 40,890.49, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6 per cent to 17,918.99. American companies continued to deliver what looks to be the best growth in profit for SandP 500 companies since late 2021.

Worries have been growing about whether shoppers in the United States can keep up their spending and keep the slowing economy out of a recession. Inflation is slowing, but prices are nevertheless much higher than before the pandemic.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury has been sinking since April on such expectations. It eased a bit further Wednesday, down to 3.79 per cent from 3.81 per cent late Tuesday.

A preliminary revision released by the US government suggested the economy created 8,18,000 fewer jobs in the year through March than earlier reported. That's a big number and adds to evidence showing a cooling job market.

In energy trading, benchmark US crude fell 16 cents to USD 71.77 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged down 8 cents to USD 75.97 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 145.36 Japanese Yen from 145.14 Yen. The Euro cost USD 1.1147, down from USD 1.1153.