Stock market today: Asian stocks advance ahead of the Fed's rate decision as panic over AI fades

Asian stocks advanced Wednesday in thin Lunar New Year trading following a rebound on Wall Street driven by tech stocks as the panic over Chinese AI company DeepSeek faded. Investors were focusing on the Federal Reserve’s rate decision due later in the day. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% to 8,447.00 after data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the Consumer Price Index increased by 0.2% in the December 2024 quarter, marking the smallest rise since the June 2020 quarter, when inflation declined during the COVID-19 outbreak.