Asia-Pacific markets fell on Thursday, following losses on Wall Street that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average touching a fresh close of the year.
The Federal Reserve held its key interest rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75%, and Chairman Jerome Powell tempered expectations of a rate cut, saying inflation was not falling as much as “hoped for.”
The producer price index – which tracks changes in wholesale prices – rose 0.7% in February, well above the 0.3% economists polled by Dow Jones expected.
Even so, the US central bank’s “dot plot” still predicts a cut in 2026 and another in 2027, although the timing is uncertain.
The war with Iran continues to fuel energy concerns. International benchmark Brent crude futures rose 4.54% to $112.28 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures were last up 1% at $97.40 a barrel.
Investors in Asia also weighed in on the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision, with the bank expected to hold interest rates at 0.75%.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 2.22% after being the region’s top gainer on Wednesday, while the small-cap Kosdaq posted a smaller loss of 1.62%.
Major shares in chip production, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, recorded losses of over 3%, reports SEEbiz.
South Korea’s won briefly breached the 1,500 mark against the dollar earlier in trading, prompting Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol to say on Wednesday that authorities had a “heightened sense of vigilance towards the foreign exchange market,” according to South Korean media.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.06%, leading losses in Asia, while the broader Topix was down 2.35%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.66%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index fell 0.99%.
India’s Nifty 50 fell 2.24%, along with the BSE Sensex, which fell 2.01%.
Shares in India’s HDFC Bank fell 5% on Thursday after Atanu Chakraborty, its part-time chairman, resigned after citing governance and ethics issues within the institution.
