Asian Stocks Gain Ahead of Central Bank Meetings

Investing.com - Asian stocks rose in morning trade on Tuesday ahead of monetary policy decisions from major central banks.

China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component gained 0.7% and 1.1% respectively by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT).

The Hang Seng Index traded 0.4% higher. Political unrest in Hong Kong continued as Beijing reiterated their support for the city’s chief executive Carrie Lam despite a series of mass protests against her policies since June.

In an interview with CNBC, DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta said the protests have not caused “big movement of money” yet.

“We’re certainly not seeing any big movement of money from Hong Kong to Singapore at this point in time. In my experience, these big shifts don’t happen unless there’s a massive regime change which we don’t foresee happening in Hong Kong,” said Gupta.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.6% even after government data showed the country’s factory output sank 3.6% in June, compared with the forecasted 2.0% drop.

The Bank of Japan’s decision on rates is due later in the day. The central bank is not expected to make any changes on its policy.

South Korea’s KOSPI also gained 0.6%.

Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 advanced 0.3%.

For the rest of the week, traders will be focusing on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday in the U.S. Markets widely expect the Fed to cut rate by at least 25 basis points. It would be the central bank’s first interest rate cut in a decade.

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