Japan's Nikkei 225 is down nearly 3% as Asia-Pacific markets mostly fall

Asia Pacific stocks fell on Thursday after overnight losses that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average decline for the first time since 2022.

 

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is down 2.88% to close at 28,487.87, while the Topix is ​​down 2.07% to 1,997.01. Australian stocks also suffered severe losses as the S & P / ASX 200 fell 2.74% on the day to 7,358.30 and Afterpay shares fell nearly 11%.

 

Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China closed 0.25% lower to 3.586.08, while Shenzhen component declined 0.663% to 14,429.51.

 

South Korean Kospi fell 1.13% to close at 2920.53.

 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng recovered previous losses and closed 0.72% higher to 23,072.86 points. Shares of Chinese tech companies listed in the city were up on the day, with Tencent up 1.49%, Alibaba up 5.68% and Meituan up 3.64%. The Hang Seng Tech Index rose 1.37% to 5396.65 points

 

Hong Kong-listed shares in debt-ridden developer China Evergrande Group rose 3.13%. Reuters said the firm would seek a six-month delay in payments on onshore bonds.

 

MSCI, the broadest Asia Pacific stock index outside Japan, declines 1.04%.

 

These changes came after the 10-year US Treasury bonds continued their gains, climbing to 1.7352% in the afternoon during Asian trading hours. Profitability changes in inverse proportion to prices.

 

The minutes of the December meeting of the US Federal Reserve, released on Wednesday, indicated that officials are ready to actively resort to political assistance.

 

Major Wall Street indices fell sharply after the minutes were published, and the S&P 500 fell 1.94% to 4700.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 392.54 points to 36,407.11, while the high-tech Nasdaq Composite fell 3.34% to 15,100.17

 

Currencies and oil

 

The US Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against a basket of peers, stood at 96.308 after an earlier low of 96.122.

 

The Japanese yen traded at 115.73 per dollar, still weaker than the levels below 115.5 seen against the US dollar earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7158 after an earlier high of $ 0.7222.

 

Oil prices fell in the afternoon during Asian trading hours, with Brent crude oil futures falling 0.22% to $ 80.62 a barrel. US oil futures fell 0.15% to $ 77.73 a barrel.