Friday Morning Briefing: Asian Shares Ease As Fed Hike Looms

Asian shares took a breather after U.S. peers capped the worst day since January as bets increased that the Federal Reserve will raise rates in two weeks.

The dollar snapped its five-session winning streak as investors await further clues on the timing of the U.S. interest rate hikes from Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech in Chicago later today.

Rally Gone Too Far

The S&P 500 Index fell 0.6 percent to 2,381.76 on Thursday, its biggest slide since January 30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped to 21,001, dragged lower by bank shares and materials producers.

Asian stock markets opened lower, with Nikkei-225 Stock Average index dipping as much as 0.21 percent to 19,523, while the KOSPI Index fell as much as 1.01 percent.

Also Read: Stocks Fall From Records as Rate Bets Boost Dollar

Yellen Speech Eyed

Yellen and Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer are both due to speak later on Friday.

The chance of a rate hike at the Fed's March 14-15 meeting jumped to 90 percent, according to futures data tracked by Bloomberg, after Lael Brainard became the latest Fed official to support the case for tightening “soon”.

Also Read: ‘More Cautious Than Usual' On Global Markets: Howard Marks

Oil Near 3-Week Low

Oil snapped its three-day losing streak but continued to trade near a three-week low as concerns over record U.S. crude inventories outweighed optimism surrounding production cuts by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other nations.

Gold fell for the fourth time in the last five sessions and hovered around the $1,233 per ounce mark.

Muted Start?

The SGX Nifty Index fell 0.51 percent to 8,875.50 as of 7:10 a.m., indicating a weak start for the Indian markets.

Indian shares closed lower on Thursday after benchmark indices scaled five-month highs on Wednesday. Subdued European stocks also dampened sentiment.

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. will be in focus today. Mukesh Ambani plans to revamp of his holding in the company, and the owners will transfer shares held in 15 entities to eight firms, the company said in an exchange filing on Thursday.

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