Asia-Pacific markets advance on Wednesday, mirroring global sentiment as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy decision, with the central bank widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

Many of the region’s biggest equity markets — including those in Hong Kong, mainland China and South Korea — are closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Live market coverage co-anchored from Hong Kong and New York. Overnight on Wall Street is daytime in Asia. Markets never sleep, and neither does Bloomberg.

Asian stocks were poised to track their US peers lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve held rates unchanged as expected, with Chair Jerome Powell saying officials were not in a hurry to lower rates.

Live market coverage co-anchored from Hong Kong and New York. Overnight on Wall Street is daytime in Asia. Markets never sleep, and neither does Bloomberg.

Shares in Japan opened slightly lower, weighing down a gauge of Asian equities despite a small gain for shares in Australia. Many of the region’s equity markets including China, South Korea and Taiwan remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority left its base rate unchanged at 4.75% on Thursday, tracking a move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep rates steady.

Gross domestic product increased at a 2.3% annualized rate last quarter after accelerating at a 3.1% pace in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its advance GDP estimate on Thursday.

Wall Street are pointing mostly higher in premarket trading while more corporate earnings poured in a day after the Federal Reserve opted to leave its benchmark lending rate alone

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