Noor Trends News, Technical Analysis, Educational Tools and Recommendations
Investors have been on the sidelines during the Asian session today ahead of this week’s big events and central banks meetings.
Japanese stocks closed lower on Tuesday as cautious investors shied away from big bets ahead of meetings of the Federal Reserve and other central banks, while the spread of the mutant Omicron weighed on risk appetite around the world.
The Nikkei index closed down 0.73 percent at 2,8432.64 points, while the broader Topix gave up gains recorded earlier in the session and fell 0.22 percent to close at 1973.81 points.
On Wednesday, the US central bank is expected to signal a faster reduction in asset purchases, while the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan are also holding meetings to discuss normalizing monetary policies.
Heavyweights fell on the index, with Fast Retailing, which owns clothing store chain Uniqlo, down 2.72 percent, while Tokyo Electron fell 1.83 percent and Daikin Industries, the air conditioner maker, fell 1.24 percent.
Travel-related stocks were hit after news indicated that the fast-spreading mutant of the Coronavirus accounts for about 40 percent of infections in London, in addition to the death of at least one person as a result of an infection in the United Kingdom.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six major currencies, rose to 96.464 for the first time since December 7, before recording 96.404 points.
