Investing.com– Most Asian stocks fell on Friday as markets gauged hawkish comments from the Bank of Japan and mixed Japanese inflation data, with focus turning squarely to an upcoming address by the Federal Reserve Chairman.
Regional markets took a weak lead-in from Wall Street, as a rebound in Treasury yields and a sharp selldown in technology shares sparked steep overnight losses.
U.S. stock index futures rose in Asian trade, with all eyes on an address by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium later on Friday.
Powell’s address comes amid growing conviction that the Fed will cut interest rates in September. But signs of a rapidly cooling labor market also fueled concerns over a slowdown in the U.S. economy, which cooled risk appetite this week.
Japanese stocks drift lower amid hawkish BOJ talk, mixed CPI
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes fell about 0.2% each, with both indexes set for a middling end to the week as a rebound from early-August losses stalled.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said in a parliamentary hearing that he still saw interest rates as very low, and that they needed to increase further to reach a neutral level. Ueda also reiterated plans to raise interest rates further if inflation remained steady- his comments coming after the BOJ hiked rates in an end-July meeting.
But Ueda’s comments were somewhat undermined by mixed consumer price index inflation data for July. The reading showed that core and headline CPI inflation rose on improved consumer spending and higher wages.
