Bloomberg News
Asian stock markets were down in early trading Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates and indicated two more rate hikes were coming later this year.
Japanese stocks opened lower, with just the fishery/ag/forestry and marine transportation sectors up. The Nikkei was down 0.4%, though few big caps were moving sharply. Nintendo , however, was down 3.7% and tractor maker Kubota eased 2.3% amid the dollar’s pullback. Elsewhere, Toshiba was up a further 2% to again be the best-performing large cap after Wednesday’s 6.6% jump on its stock-buyback plans.
South Korean stocks were notably lagging after Wednesday’s day off for elections, with the Kospi down more than 1%. Construction names, which have surged since late April amid a Korean Peninsula thaw, continued the pullback seen during Tuesday’s Trump-Kim summit. Hyundai Engineering was off 6% while construction-materials maker Busan Industrial slid 11%.
Hong Kong stocks were little changed, with the Hang Seng Index off 0.4%. Financial stocks slipped after the Fed’s latest rate hike, with China Construction Bank down 1%. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority raised its base rate a quarter-point to 2.25%, matching the overnight interest rate hike by the Fed. A day after ZTE shares sank 42% in their second day of resumed trading, they were up 3% Thursday.
The Shanghai Composite was down slightly, as was Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 as well as stocks in Singapore and Taiwan .