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Asia-Pacific markets dipped Monday at the start of the penultimate week of 2023, after most markets in the region rallied last week following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates and its roadmap for rate cuts in 2024 and 2025.
The Bank of Japan will meet for the last time this year. A note from Dutch bank ING said it expects the BOJ to maintain all its major policy settings, “though the overall tone about future policy at the press conference and statement could start to soften.”
A Reuters poll of economists also expects the BOJ to maintain its benchmark interest rate at -0.1%.
Separately, China will release its loan prime rates on Wednesday, while inflation data from Japan is due Friday.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.18% lower, snapping a six-day winning streak.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.77%, while the Topix opened 0.8% lower.
South Korea’s Kospi struggled to make headway, while the small-cap Kosdaq was the only outlier rising 0.82% at open.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,690, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s close of 18,326.63.
On Friday in the U.S., markets ended mixed, and with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2% and setting a new intraday record and the Nasdaq Composite 0.4% higher. The Nasdaq-100 ended Friday at 16,623.45, topping a record close dating back to November 2021.
In contrast, the S&P500 slipped marginally, but still logged gains for a seventh straight week to mark its longest winning streak since 2017.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report