Stocks Tiptoe Higher Before Fed, Yen Intervention Alarms Flare

A passerby walks past an electric monitor displaying various countries' stock price index outside a bank in Tokyo, Japan, on March 22, 2023. Issei Kato/Reuters

SINGAPORE/LONDON—Subdued stocks inched higher on Wednesday ahead of a policy decision from the Federal Reserve later in the day, while the yen was stuck near one-year lows against the dollar as Tokyo ramped up intervention warnings.

Europe’s benchmark STOXX index rose 0.46 percent, more positive than the 0.1 percent gain in MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan which has clocked three straight months of losses.