Gold jumps over 3% to fresh highs as Asia stock markets trade mixed after U.S. Fed holds rates
An aerial view of Singapore's skyline.Tong Thi Viet Phuong | Moment | Getty ImagesSpot gold prices rose to a fresh record Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve overnight kept its benchmark rate steady at a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%.The bullion rose more than 3% to breach the $5,500 per ounce mark for the first time.Asia-Pacific markets mostly traded lower Thursday. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.69%.Japan's Nikkei 225 reversed early gains to fall 0.14%, while the Topix lost 0.33%. South Korea's Kospi was unchanged, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 1.87%.Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 2.58% at the open on Thursday before reversing course, falling around 1%. The company reported an over threefold surge in fourth-quarter profits Thursday, hitting a new record and beating estimates, on a memory chip shortage and strong demand for artificial intelligence servers.Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 0.23% in choppy trade, while mainland's CSI 300 fell 0.31%.Investors will be keeping an eye on developments in Indonesia after the benchmark Jakarta Composite plunged over 8% on Wednesday after index provider MSCI had issued a statement warning of a potential downgrade of the country to frontier-market status.Trading halted after the benchmark fell 8% on Thursday, according to a press release from the bourse, while the Indonesian rupiah weakened marginally to 16,778 against the greenback.Goldman Sachs lowered Indonesia to underweight on the back of expectations of further passive selling, the investment bank said in a note published Thursday. The bank's strategists also regarded this development as "an overhang that will impede market performance."Singapore's central bank left its monetary policy unchanged Thursday, while warning of upside risks to inflation and demand as the city-state's economic outlook stays resilient. The country's benchmark Straits Times Index inched 0.19% higher.Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 reached a milestone level, hitting 7,000 for the first time, before pulling back as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and upped its economic growth assessment.The broad market index ended the day down 0.01% at 6,978.03. Earlier, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% on the day, hitting an all-time intraday high of 7,002.28. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.02% to close at 49,015.60. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed and gained 0.17%, settling at 23,857.45.Treasury yields moved up following the Fed's decision, as the central bank's statement revealed that economic activity has been "expanding at a solid pace" and that the unemployment rate has "shown some signs of stabilization.""I think, and many of my colleagues think, it's hard to look at the incoming data and say the policy is significantly restrictive at this time," said Fed Chair Jerome Powell during his press conference.—CNBC's Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
