SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets were mixed in Thursday trading with multiple regional markets shedding earlier gains as buoyant sentiment from overnight moves on Wall Street following a Federal Reserve rate hike that equated to its most aggressive such move since 1994 faded.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% on the day to 26,431.20 while the Topix was up 0.64% to 1,867.81.
Shares of Fast Retailing were up 1.44% while robot maker Fanuc saw its stock climb 0.47%. Trade data released in the morning showed Japan ran a trade deficit after falls in the yen drove more imports.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.34% in afternoon trade as shares of Chinese tech stocks like Tencent and Netease declined more than 3% each.
In mainland China markets, the Shanghai Composite sat 0.68% lower while the Shenzhen Component hovered above the flatline.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.15% lower at 6,591.10.
Australia’s unemployment figures held steady at 3.9% in yet another signal that Australia’s Reserve Bank would, like the Fed and many other central banks, be staying on course to raise rates again. The unemployment rate has now been at 3.9% for three consecutive months but could fall to 3.5% at the end of the year, Capital Economics’ Ben Udy said.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index gained 0.18%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.46%.
Futures contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 also traded in negative territory during the afternoon of Asia trading hours on Thursday.
Thursday’s moves follow a tumble across markets earlier this week following initial news of a strong move by the Fed and concerns of more Covid-related restrictions in mainland China.
Fed rate hike
Following the rate hike in the U.S., Wall Street was volatile but market indexes rose to session highs after the Federal Open Market Committee took the level of its benchmark funds rate to a range of 1.5%-1.75% — the highest since just before the Covid pandemic began in March 2020.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also said during his afternoon press conference that, “either a 50 basis point or a 75 basis point increase seems most likely at our next meeting.”
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