Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady as widely expected, while investors were also awaiting cues from the ECB and BOJ meetings. Chinese shares gained after the China's central bank PBoC cut a key interest rate and pumped billions into financial markets in a bid to support slowing economic growth. Japanese shares finished almost flat with negative momentum as the US Federal Reserve signalled more interest rate hikes this year. Meanwhile, data showed Japanese core machinery orders rebounded in April while the trade deficit in May shrank 42% from a year earlier to 1.37 trillion yen ($9.8 billion).
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,252.98 | 23.99 | 0.74 |
| Hang Seng | 19,828.92 | 420.50 | 2.12 |
| Jakarta Composite | 6,713.80 | 14.08 | 0.21 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,381.73 | -3.69 | -0.27 |
| Nikkei 225 | 33,485.49 | -16.93 | -0.05 |
| Straits Times | 3,242.85 | 24.71 | 0.76 |
| KOSPI Composite | 2,608.54 | -10.54 | -0.40 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 17,334.98 | 96.84 | 0.56 |
