Asia-Pacific markets fell on Thursday following a sharp Wall Street sell-off overnight as the Federal Reserve’s cautious outlook on interest rates weighed on global investor sentiment.
By 11:50 am AEDT (12:50 am GMT) the ASX 200 dropped 1.9%, the KOSPI 200 declined 1.7% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 1.1%.
However, futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index were flat at 19,873 after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority mirrored the Fed’s move with a 25 basis point (bp) rate cut.
In New Zealand, the NZ50 fell 1% as official data confirmed the economy contracted by 1% in the September quarter, marking the country’s entry into recession.
Investors in Asia turned their attention to the Bank of Japan’s upcoming policy decision, with expectations for the central bank to maintain its target rate at 0.25%.
The declines across Asia followed a steep selloff in U.S. markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,123 points, or 2.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.6%, and the S&P 500 lost nearly 3%.
Among S&P 500 companies, Jabil Inc. surged 7%, The Cigna Group rose 6.5%, and UnitedHealth Group gained 2.9%.
Major decliners included Tesla, falling 8.3%, and BXP, which lost 7.6%.
In commodity markets, Brent crude fell 0.3% to US$72.99 a barrel, while gold declined 2.3% to US$2,585.35.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6% to 3,382.2, and the CSI 300 added 19.9 points or 0.5% to 3,941.9.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index added 0.8%, closing at 19,864.6, while India's BSE SENSEX slipped 0.6% to 80,182.2.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 Index was flat at 8,199.1, the CAC 40 rose 0.3% to 7,384.6 and the DAX remained unchanged at 20,242.6.