Warsh Speech Sets Asian Markets on Edge Ahead of Rate Decision

Asian shares turned cautious on Friday after a Nvidia-fuelled technology rally, while currency and bond markets held their breath for the world's most powerful central banker to speak on US interest rates.

Nvidia's robust results and signal that the AI spending boom has years left to run sent Taiwanese shares gaining 1.2 per cent, but South Korea's KOSPI fell 1 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.3 per cent.

The Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium is where chair Kevin Warsh is slated to speak later in the day, with markets hoping he will reduce some of the uncertainty surrounding the Fed's reaction function.

Markets imply a 35 per cent chance that the Fed will raise interest rates when it meets on September 16 and are fully priced for a move by December, but analysts at ANZ say they do not expect Warsh to offer forward guidance.