Asian markets settled mostly lower on Thursday tracking sell-off in Wall Street overnight after the minutes from the US Federal Reserve's recent meeting signalled a possibility of earlier and faster interest rate hikes to cool inflation. Strong US ADP private payroll report sent Treasury yields higher also boosted expectations of early interest rate hikes. Chinese shares ended lower due to surge in Covid-19 infections. Data showed activity in China's services sector expanded at a faster pace in December. The services sector in China continued to expand in December, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Caixin revealed with a services PMI score of 53.1 in December up from 52.1 in November. Meanwhile, Japan's services sector activity expanded at a slower pace in December. The final au Jibun Bank Japan Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to a seasonally adjusted 52.1 from the prior month's 53.0, which was the highest reading since August 2019.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,586.08 | -9.10 | -0.25 |
Hang Seng | 23,072.86 | 165.61 | 0.72 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,653.35 | -8.95 | -0.13 |
KLSE Composite | 1,533.36 | -14.59 | -0.94 |
Nikkei 225 | 28,487.87 | -844.29 | -2.88 |
Straits Times | 3,184.30 | 20.86 | 0.66 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,920.53 | -33.44 | -1.13 |
Taiwan Weighted | 18,367.92 | -132.04 | -0.71 |
