Kazuo Ueda, Governor of the Bank of Japan.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were poised to decline ahead of central bank monetary policy decisions from the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
All eyes will be on the Bank of Japan amid expectations that the central bank may end its negative interest rate policy after 17 years.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to raise interest rates to 0% from the current -0.1%.
Separately, the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate at 4.35% for the third meeting in a row.
the Standard & Poor's/ASX 200 It was trading near the flat line at the beginning of the day.
Japan Nikki 225 It was set to decline due to a potential shift in its ultra-loose monetary policy – as higher interest rates tend to pressure stocks. Futures contracts in Chicago reached 39,415 points and their counterpart in Osaka at 39,410 points, compared to the last index closing at 39,740.44 points.
Hong Kong Hang Seng futures hit 16,680, also indicating a weaker open compared to the HSI's close of 16,737.12.
Overnight in the US, the three major indexes rebounded with gains in technology companies, while investors awaited monetary policy guidance from the Federal Reserve.
Nvidia Shares rose 0.7% on the first day of the company's GTC conference — where the chipmaker is expected to showcase its latest AI successes. shares the alphabet Its stock ended up 4.6% after Bloomberg News reported this apple It is in talks with Google to include the company's Gemini AI in iPhones.
the Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose by 0.2%, while it rose Standard & Poor's 500 It rose by 0.63%. the Nasdaq Composite It increased by 0.82%.
– CNBC's Lisa Kailay Hahn and Brian Evans contributed to this report
