Investing.com - Asian-Pacific markets showed a mixed performance at the opening on Thursday, following a drop in US indices. This comes after minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting revealed policymakers' concerns about enduring inflation.
The S&P/ASX 200 and KOSPI 200 saw a decline of 1% and 0.4% respectively, while the Nikkei 225 experienced a rise of 0.6%.
US stocks fell on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve's recent policy meeting minutes highlighted worries about persistent inflation, causing doubts about when the officials might reduce interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 201 points, or 0.5%, to 39,671, the S&P 500 lost 0.3% to 5,307, and the NASDAQ Composite dropped 0.2% to 16,801.
The yield on the United States 10-Year Treasury note, rose to 4.433%, up from 4.414% on Tuesday. Investors' hopes for rate cuts, which were disrupted earlier this year due to stronger-than-expected inflation reports, have been revived by a slowdown in job growth and more encouraging inflation data. This has led to a rally in stocks this month, with the S&P 500 up 5.4%.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) also rose 6.1% after-hours after reporting earnings, with the chipmaker posting record quarterly revenue, raising its dividend, and announcing a 10-for-1 stock split.
In commodity markets, Brent crude oil fell 1.4% to US$81.72 a barrel, and gold dropped 1.7% to US$2,378.85. In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds rose to 3.99% while the 10 Year yield also increased to 4.28%. US Treasury notes were up, with the 2 Year yield at 4.87% and the 10 Year yield at 4.42%.
In Asia, Chinese shares closed mostly higher, led by the solar sector's sharp gains. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended flat at 3158.54, the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.2%, and the ChiNext Price Index gained 0.9%.
European stocks closed lower, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index down 0.3% to 521.18, Germany's DAX losing 0.3% to 18,680.20, and France's CAC 40 slipping 0.6% to 8,092.11. In the UK, the FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.6% to 8,370.33.