Asian stocks drift lower amid mixed Japan cues; Powell speech looms

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks fell on Friday as markets gauged hawkish comments from the Bank of Japan and mixed Japanese inflation data, with focus turning squarely to an upcoming address by the Federal Reserve Chairman.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said in a parliamentary hearing that he still saw interest rates as very low, and that they needed to increase further to reach a neutral level. Ueda also reiterated plans to raise interest rates further if inflation remained steady- his comments coming after the BOJ hiked rates in an end-July meeting.

But underlying inflation- which excludes food and energy costs and is a key inflation metric for the BOJ- fell below the bank’s 2% annual target.Japanese markets were rattled by a hawkish BOJ earlier in August, although they did recoup a bulk of their last week.Broader Asian markets mostly edged lower, and were set for a middling weekly performance as a rebound from early Augusts’ losses stalled.

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