Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain concerned about the economic impact of fresh escalation in the Middle East war following attacks and counter attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the Middle East. Fading expectations for US Fed rate cuts this year is also weighing on market sentiment. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday.
The "uncertain impacts" due to the Middle East escalation prompted the U.S. Fed to keep interest rates steady. The Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank also followed suit.
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Market Analysis
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.