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The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to raise rates by 75 basis points for a fourth straight time to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent, the highest level since 2008.
T. Rowe Price chief U.S. economist Blerina Uruci said a 75-basis-point increase has been the consensus for some time, and expects the focus to be on any signs of slowing the pace of rate hikes at the December meeting.
She also looks to see if the Fed is willing to embrace a higher final rate than what the September dot plot indicates, and the Fed’s level of comfort with the withdrawal in certain economic conditions.
The S&The P/ASX 200 ended the trading day up 0.14 per cent or 9.8 points to 6986.7. The All Ords, which tracks the 500 largest companies, similarly rose by 0.11 percent or 8.2 points to 7177.8.
West Texas Intermediate futures rose to $90 a barrel after closing about 2 percent higher in the previous session.
The major banks were little changed, but miners Rio Tinto and BHP rallied more than 2 percent.
Rio Tinto jumped 2.4 percent as its bid to complete a takeover of Turquoise Hill Resources received a boost. The most vocal opponents of the deal agreed not to vote at the shareholder meeting that will determine whether the $3.3 billion deal will go ahead.
Amcor shares fell after the consumer packaging company reported overall sales revenue for the September quarter rose 9 percent to $3.7 billion, with net income up 15 percent to $232 million.
Amcor was one of the biggest laggards on the ASX 200, falling 4.3 per cent, along with Domino’s Pizza, Cromwell Property Group and Reliance Worldwide.
Shares in CSL were down 0.2 percent. The blood products giant has announced it will invest at least US$200 million ($313 million) to boost its mRNA capabilities, forming a licensing deal with Nasdaq-listed Arcturus Therapeutics.
Vulcan Energy fell 1.9 percent after announcing an expansion of its lithium operations in Alsace, France with plans to secure more licenses in the region.
Lithium developer Lake Resources gained 5.2 percent after it announced that its Kachi site in Argentina is now processing brines with final plant optimization nearly complete. The final lithium product is expected to be qualified by a uniform battery marker to validate product specifications.
Long-term Treasury yields rose after US jobs rose unexpectedly in September. Local bond yields similarly rose, with Australia’s 5-year bond yield rising to 3.5 percent.
In currency trade, the Australian dollar rose 0.4 percent to US64.22ยข, proving resilient after the Reserve Bank disappointed rate hawks with a 0.25 percent increase to the cash rate.
In response to Tuesday’s rate hike, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Macquarie Bank followed National Australia Bank in raising their home loan variable interest rate.
Australia’s biggest bank will also raise interest rates across some of its savings products.
On Asian markets, Chinese shares advanced, reversing earlier losses, as investors weighed speculation that authorities were preparing for a gradual reopening of tough Covid restrictions.
China’s Hang Seng Index gained as much as 2.4 percent as unverified social media posts circulated online that a committee had been formed to assess ways to exit Covid Zero.
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