Asia-Pacific markets were mixed after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Oct. 31 meeting revealed that policy officials maintained that monetary policy had to be restrictive and had little appetite for rate cuts.
“In discussing the policy outlook, participants continued to judge that it was critical that the stance of monetary policy be kept sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to the Committee’s 2 percent objective over time,” the minutes said. The federal funds rate currently stands at 5.25%-5.5%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded from two straight days of losses to rise 0.29% and end at 33,451.83, while the Topix added 0.44% to 2,378.19.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed marginally, marking a third day of gains and closing at 2,511.7. In contrast, the Kosdaq shed 0.29%, ending the day at 814.61.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat, while China’s CSI 300 index closed 1.02% lower at 3,544.42.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down marginally, reversing earlier gains and closing at 7,073.4.
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei 225 Index | *NIKKEI | 33641.02 | 189.19 | 0.57 |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | *HSI | 17654.46 | -256.38 | -1.43 |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | *ASX 200 | 7040.8 | 11.6 | 0.17 |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | *SHANGHAI | 3041.87 | -19.99 | -0.65 |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | *KOSPI | 2500.72 | -14.24 | -0.57 |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | *CNBC 100 | 8435.31 | -25.37 | -0.3 |
In the U.S., all three major indexes lost ground following the Fed announcement, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite snapping a string of five consecutive winning days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.18%, while the S&P dipped 0.2%. The tech heavy Nasdaq fell 0.59%, a day after leading a tech fueled rally on Wall Street.
— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
We are ‘really positive’ about Vietnam in the long term, PropertyGuru says
PropertyGuru, a Singapore-based online property portal, reported 13% year-over-year revenue growth, reaching 39 million Singapore dollars ($29.1 million) in the third quarter. Revenue from Singapore’s property market increased to SG$22.5 million in the third quarter, helping to offset a decrease in revenue from the Vietnamese market, the company reported.
“Singapore has been sort of pretty robust to date, although we are noticing a little bit more supply coming into the market, probably demand is dropping off a little bit … but fundamentally, it’s a strong property market,” Joe Dische, chief financial officer at PropertyGuru told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
Dische noted that although Malaysia and Vietnam are going through some some short-term headwinds, the company is still “very positive” on the long-term prospects of both countries.
Vietnam’s marketplace revenue decreased 32.9% year-over-year to SG$4.1 million in the third quarter and the country is not expected to make recovery in 2023, PropertyGuru stated in its report. Nonetheless, Dische believes that down the road, Vietnam’s “market will come back and we’ll get a lot of additional revenue quite quickly.”
Source : CNBCC
