SINGAPORE – Australian stocks opened subdued Thursday as Asia-Pacific investors reacted to the Fed’s decision to maintain its simple monetary policy.
The futures indicated a slightly different start for Australian stocks. The SPI futures contract was 7,059.0 compared to the last closing price of the S & P / ASX 200 at 7,064.70.
Investors will be watching the stocks of Apple suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region after the Cupertino, Calif.-Based tech giant reported another blowout quarter and revenue rose 54% year over year.
The markets in Japan are closed on Thursday for public holidays.
The Fed keeps monetary policy simple
The Federal Reserve decided on Wednesday to keep short-term interest rates near zero as it buys at least $ 120 billion worth of bonds every month.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell said the recovery was “uneven and nowhere near complete”. He added that it is still not time to discuss reducing policy housing, including asset purchases.
On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 closed less than 0.1% lower at 4,183.18, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day 164.55 points lower at 33,820.38. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.28% to close at 14,051.03.
Currencies
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, came in at 90.609 after earlier declines above 90.9.
The Japanese yen was trading at 108.53 per dollar, compared to levels above 108.6 against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.78 after rising below $ 0.776 yesterday.
