HONG KONG -- Asian stocks closed mostly higher, while European markets opened lower on Wednesday as investors awaited the latest signals from the Federal Reserve on the timing of interest rate cuts.
London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 7,729.13 after British inflation in February came in below expectations at 3.4%, its lowest level since September 2021. That supports hopes for rate cuts in the coming months.
Germany's DAX lost 0.1% to 17,979.22 and Paris' CAC 40 lost 0.6% to 8,149.06 shillings.
The future of S&The P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%.
Japan's markets were closed for a holiday. On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in 17 years, raising it to a range of zero to 0.1% from -0.1%.
The US dollar rose against the Japanese yen after the BOJ's comments on its decision suggested that a wide gap between interest rates in the United States and Japan will persist for the foreseeable future. The dollar rose to 151.46 yen from 150.87 yen, trading at its highest level in four months.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 16,557.26, and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6% to 3,079.69.
China left its benchmark interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected. While the economy is showing signs of improvement, the housing market remains precarious.
Elsewhere, Australia's S&The P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 7,695.80, while South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.3% to 2,690.14 and Taiwan's Taiex lost 0.4%.
On Tuesday, the S&The P 500 rose 0.6% to 5,178.51, surpassing its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.4%.
International Paper rose 11%, the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after naming Andrew Silvernail, an executive at investment firm KKR, as its new CEO.
Unilever's US-listed shares rose 2.8% after it said it was spinning off Ben. & Jerry's and its ice cream business, while cutting 7,500 jobs.
Nvidia went from a nearly 4% loss to a 1.1% gain.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Super Micro Computer, whose shares had previously gone from less than $100 to more than $1,000 in a year. The seller of servers and storage systems used in artificial intelligence and other computing sank 9% after it said it was looking to sell 2 million shares.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, attention was focused on the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve began its latest interest rate meeting on Tuesday and will announce its decision later on Wednesday. He is widely expected to leave his key interest rate at a two-decade high, but investors expect him to signal that he still expects to cut rates three times by the end of this year, as he hinted a few months ago.
Part of the run to record highs in US stocks is due to hopes of such cuts, which would ease pressure on the economy and financial system. But recent inflation reports have been consistently worse than expected. That could force the Federal Reserve to say it will make fewer rate cuts this year, and traders have already abandoned earlier expectations that the first cut of the year would come on Wednesday.
Bank of America strategists expect Fed officials to stick to forecasts that show the average member still expects three cuts in 2024. But it's a close call and "risks lean toward fewer cuts being signaled." according to strategists led by Mark Cabana.
In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 80 cents to $81.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 82 cents to $86.56 a barrel.
The euro cost $1.0855, down from $1.0865.
