Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Wednesday, following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as investor sentiment was boosted on US Fed chair Jerome Powell ruling out aggressive interest rate hikes, as feared earlier, after the 50 basis points hike announced. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.
As widely expected, the Fed hiked interest rates by 50 basis points and said another couple of similar hikes are likely after the upcoming meetings. However, Powell added that the central bank does not plan to raise interest rates as aggressively, as some had feared, in an effort to return elevated inflation to its 2 percent objective.
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May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.