Asian equities down as Fed minutes anticipate rate hikes

Equity markets in Asia were down on Thursday, following a weak lead from Wall Street as the latest Federal Reserve minutes added to speculation over future monetary policy adjustments.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index traded 1.4 percent lower while South Korea’s Kospi was nearly half a percent down. The negative move was mainly a reaction to Fed minutes.

Sydney’s ASX 200 started the session in green territory but reverted gains later in the day to trade around 0.20 percent down, with energy and materials components weighing on it.

Chinese markets have finally reopened after being closed for nearly a week in observance of the Lunar New Year holidays. Most indexes were trading higher. Hong Kong was down.

Wall Street ended on a lower note, with the Nasdaq easing 53.25 points, the S&P 500 down by 13.75 and the Dow Jones industrial average plunging about 180 points.

The latest monetary policy meeting minutes of the Federal Reserve were released in late trading hours on Wednesday. The document solidified expectations that the US regulator is heading to a more aggressive stance on policy normalization.

According to Fed funds tracked by CME Group’s FedWatch program, market participants are currently weighing an 85 percent probability of a 25 basis-point rate hike by March.

<<< Asian Stock Indexes at 08:00 GMT >>>

Australia ASX S&P +10.40 +0.17% 6,057.70

Shanghai Composite +69.40 +2.17% 3,268.56

Hong Kong Hang Seng -414.78 -1.32% 31,017.11

Japan Nikkei 225 -234.37 -1.07% 21,736.44

Taiwan TSEC 50 Index -52.06 -0.49% 10,662.38

<<< Next in Europe >>>

Ahead in today’s session, attention will be directed to German business expectations, current assessment and lfo business climate index for February, all due as of 09:00 GMT.

<<< Next in United States >>>

Ahead in the day, initial jobless claims are due as of 13:30 GMT. Traders will also be paying attention to a series of FOMC speakers, including Dudley at 15:00 GMT, Bostic at 17:10 GMT and Kaplan at 20:30 GMT.

FortFS