Asian Stocks Rise Ahead of Expected Fed Rate Hike

Asian stock markets generally rose on Wednesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates. The Fed is expected to raise rates for the first time in three years due to high inflation.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.4% to 63,721.89 despite a trade deficit in August. South Korea's Kospi rose 1.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.6%

Artificial intelligence-related stocks remained volatile after calls from US AI leaders to slow the development of the technology for safety reasons. SoftBank Group, a key investor in OpenAI, dropped 1% while Tokyo Electron rose 1.4%. Japanese memory maker Kioxia Holdings lost 2.9%

The US dollar rose to 155.36 Japanese yen from 155.10 yen and the euro was trading at $1.1543, down from $1.1544.