Asian stocks higher ahead of Fed rate decision

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were higher Wednesday after Wall Street rose ahead of what traders hope will be the last Federal Reserve interest rate hike for some time.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. U.S. futures declined. Oil prices gained.

Traders assume the Fed will announce a rate hike of 0.25 percentage points but hope that will be the last for some time after data Tuesday showed U.S. wage growth slowed in late 2022. They worry U.S. and European rate hikes to cool inflation might tip the global economy into recession.

Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index gained 1.5% after traders took the wage data as a sign the U.S. central bank might think its efforts to slow economic activity are taking effect.

Investors will watch how the Fed describes its decision and chair Jerome Powell's comments at a planned news conference for signs of whether the U.S. central bank will ease off plans for more rate hikes, said Anderson Alves of ActivTrades in a report.

"A hawkish decision could put strong pressure on all asset classes," Alves said, while a more dovish outlook could “prompt expectations that the Fed could start cutting rates again in the last quarter of this year.”

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1% to 3,258.93 after two surveys showed Chinese factory activity increased in January but still is subdued amid weak global demand and COVID-19 outbreaks that disrupted business.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo advanced less than 0.1% to 27,338.09 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.3% to 21,902.35.

The Kospi in Seoul rose 0.4% to 2,433.39 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 was 0.3% higher at 7,498.00.

India's Sensex opened up 0.8% at 60,015.24. Singapore declined while New Zealand and other Southeast Asian markets rose.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500...