Asian stocks waver ahead of BOJ rate decision

Stock markets in Asia are trading mixed as investors prefer to stay on the sidelines ahead of the Bank of Japan policy review and FOMC rate decision.

At the time of writing, Japan’s Nikkei index was down 0.50%. Moreover, there is a significant majority out there which believes the central bank is likely stand pat. That seems to be capping the buying interest in the Japanese stock markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.20% as well. Meanwhile, stocks in New Zealand and Australia enjoyed marginal gains.

Investors fear that bond yields at the long end of the market curve due to possible reverse operation twist from Bank of Japan could rattle riskier assets across the globe.