Asian shares mostly higher ahead of Fed rate hike decision

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve and other central banks prepared for the year’s final barrage of interest rate hikes.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 27,961.66 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.5% to 19,559.93. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.3% to 7,203.30.

In Seoul, the Kospi shed 0.3% to 2,366.89. The Shanghai Composite index was flat at 3,179.71. Shares fell in India and Taiwan but rose in Singapore and Bangkok.

Markets have struggled this year thanks to high inflation and the interest rate hikes engineered to combat it. Higher rates slow business activity by design but also risk causing a recession if they go too high, all while dragging down prices of investments.

On Wall Street on Monday, the S&P 500 rallied 1.4% to 3,990.56. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.6% to 34,005.04. The Nasdaq climbed 1.3% to 11,143.74. The Russell 2000 gained 1.2% to 1,818.61.

The indexes were coming off their first weekly loss in three weeks.

Technology stocks accounted for a big share of the market’s gains. Microsoft rose 2.9% and was the biggest single force lifting the S&P 500. The London Stock Exchange Group agreed to a 10-year deal where it will move data to Microsoft’s cloud and spend at least $2.8 billion. Microsoft is also taking a 4% ownership stake in the company.

Horizon Therapeutics jumped 15.5% after Amgen announced it would acquire the biopharmaceutical company for about $26.4 billion.

The rally came ahead of a key inflation report on Tuesday and a meeting of policymakers at the Federal Reserve, after which investors expect the Fed to announce Wednesday its last rate hike of the year following a blitzkrieg that began in March.

The Fed has hinted it will dial down the size of its rate...