On the afternoon of December 11th, most Asian stocks reversed course.

Major Asian stock markets failed to maintain their momentum on the afternoon of December 11, as initial gains were overshadowed by uncertain signals regarding the Federal Reserve's policy outlook for 2026.

A trader works at a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Kyodo/VNA.

At the close of trading in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index fell 0.9% to 50,148.82 points. In China, the Shanghai Composite index in Shanghai declined 0.7% to 3,873.32 points, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong remained unchanged at 25,530.51 points.

The red color also spread to the markets in Seoul, Taipei, and Bangkok. Conversely, the markets in Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Manila, Mumbai, and Jakarta recorded gains.

In the early part of the trading session, although the market had already anticipated the Fed's move to cut interest rates to their lowest level in three years, investors found some solace in Chairman Jerome Powell's less hawkish remarks following the December 10 meeting. Powell stated that normalizing monetary policy would help stabilize the labor market and allow inflation to continue its downward trend toward 2% once the impact of tariffs had subsided.

However, traders have lowered expectations for the number of Fed interest rate cuts in 2026 after the central bank signaled a pause in further easing. Analysts believe that while the market is optimistic about two more cuts by the end of 2026, the Fed is unlikely to act until after June 2026.

Besides interest rates, disappointing earnings reports from software giant Oracle also dampened investor sentiment. This raised concerns that the sky-high valuations of tech companies fueled by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) craze may have been pushed too far after a prolonged period of price increases.

In the domestic market, at the close of trading on December 11th, the VN-Index fell 20.08 points (1.17%) to 1,698.90 points. The HNX-Index fell 0.61 points (0.24%) to 255.87 points.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thi-truong-tien-te/chieu-1112-hau-het-chung-khoan-chau-a-dao-chieu-20251211160914292.htm