China composite index end marginally higher

Asian stocks fell broadly on Wednesday due to lingering Middle East tensions, shifting U.S. rate cut expectations and reports suggesting that the U.S. is mulling a cap on export licenses for AI chips to specific countries.

French luxury giant LVMH suffered its first quarterly sales drop since pandemic, fueling concerns about slowing demand in China and elsewhere.

Chipmaker shares led regional losses after Europe's biggest tech firm ASML, whose customers include TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix, warned of weak semiconductor demand.

The dollar hovered near two-month peaks versus major peers, driven by rising bets for a second Donald Trump presidency and expectations the Federal Reserve will proceed with modest interest rate cuts.

 

Markets currently see a 95 percent chance of a 25-bps rate cut from the Fed next month, after an aggressive 50-bps cut in September.

Atlanta Fed's Raphael Bostic on Tuesday said he penciled in just one more interest-rate reduction of 25 basis points this year, while San Francisco Fed's Mary Daly said "one or two" cuts in 2024 would be "reasonable".

Gold edged higher for a second straight session to hover near a three-week high while oil recovered some ground after falling more than 4 percent on Tuesday.

China's Shanghai Composite index finished marginally higher after a choppy session as investors awaited concrete details on stimulus plans.

It is believed a press briefing by China's housing minister on Thursday will likely provide more details of measures to promote the "steady and healthy" development of the property sector.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged down 0.16 percent to 20,286.85 after a volatile session.

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