Investing.com - Asian Pacific share markets opened lower across the board on Thursday, mirroring continued declines on Wall Street.
By 11:20 am AEDT (12:20 am GMT) the S&P/ASX 200 and KOSPI 200 were each 0.4% lower while the Nikkei 225 dipped 2.3%.
In the US, stocks continued their downward trend on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's December meeting minutes revealed policymakers' uncertainty surrounding interest-rate projections, without ruling out further rate hikes.
The S&P 500 dipped 38 points, or 0.8%, to 4,7051, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 0.7% to close at 37,430. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite eased by 174 points, or 1%, to 14,592.
Federal Reserve officials discussed slowing and eventually halting the reduction of the central bank's bond holdings at their December meeting. They agreed to initiate this conversation "well before such a decision was reached" to give the public adequate advance notice. Fed officials initiated asset purchases at the start of the pandemic to hold down interest rates and began to let these assets run off the balance sheet in 2022.
Upgrade your decision-making with InvestingPro+! Use discount code “INVPRODEAL” and receive an additional 10% off the InvestingPro+ bi-yearly subscription. Click here! and don't forget the discount code.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil rose 3.45% to $US78.51 a barrel, while gold fell 0.90% to $US2,040.51. Iron ore experienced a modest gain of 0.6% to $US142.55 a tonne. The Australian dollar was slightly lower at 67.26 US cents from its previous close of 67.58.
Chinese shares experienced mixed results, with the Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.2% to 2967.25, while the Shenzhen Composite Index and the ChiNext Price Index fell 0.6% and 1.2% respectively. Meanwhile, Hong Kong shares closed lower, dragged down by tech and property stocks. The Hang Seng Index shed 0.85% to 16646.41, and the Hang Seng Tech Index lost 1.8%.
European stocks fell as ongoing geopolitical tensions negatively affected market sentiment. The Stoxx Europe 600 and FTSE 100 fell 0.9% and 0.5% respectively, while the DAX retreated by 1.5% and the CAC 40 backtracked by 1.7%. Losses in industrial and tech stocks outweighed gains for telecoms and insurers. The FTSE 100 index closed Wednesday down 0.5% to 7682 points, primarily dragged down by the mining sector and a downturn