Asia-Pacific markets mostly lower following Wall Street losses ahead of Fed rate decision

Asia Markets

Asia-Pacific markets mostly lower following Wall Street losses ahead of Fed rate decision

Published Mon, Dec 8 2025

6:57 PM EST

Updated 11 Min Ago

thumbnailLim Hui Jie@in/hui-jie-lim-a7371176/WATCH LIVE

Key Points

  • Asia markets were mixed, with Japan the only major market in positive territory.
  • The Fed is expected to cut rates by another 25 basis points to bring interest rates to 3.5%-3.75%.
  • However, experts said that the Fed will then take a more data-dependent stance.

Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly lower Tuesday, following losses on Wall Street as investors held back ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on Dec. 10 stateside.

The central bank is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 basis points at its final meeting of the year, bringing the Federal Funds rate to 3.5%-3.75%. However, experts said the Fed will then take a more data-dependent stance.

"I would not be surprised for Jerome Powell to be like, 'We've cut, and now we're in a place where we really need to watch the data,' and he'll stop just short of being hawkish, because we have seen the softness in the labor market," said Stephen Kolano, chief investment officer at Integrated Partners.

Japan's markets started trading in positive territory before reversing gains, with the Nikkei 225  down 0.29% while the broad-based Topix was 0.17% lower.

South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.32%, but the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.18% higher.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.43% in early trade.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 25,763, nearly unchanged from the last close of 25,765.26.

U.S. stock futures were slightly higher Monday night, buoyed by President Donald Trump's approval of Nvidia H200 chip sales to China in a deal that gives the U.S. government a hefty cut.

In after-hours trading, Nvidia climbed 2.2% following a Truth Social post Monday evening that said the chipmaking giant could ship its H200 chips to "approved customers" in China and elsewhere under the condition that a quarter of the sales will be paid to the U.S. government. 

Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 pulled back 0.35%, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.14%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 215.67 points, or 0.45%.

—CNBC's Sean Conlon and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

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