Asian Markets Trading Mixed

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders reacted to the US Fed's decision to raise interest rate by 25 basis points and signaled another rate hike despite recent turmoil in the banking industry. While the interest rate hike was widely expected, some traders may have been holding out hope the Fed would leave rates unchanged. Asian Markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday.

The central bank's latest projections suggest the Fed plans to raise rates just one more time this year to a range of 5.0 to 5.25 percent.

The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Thursday, giving up the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders reacted to the US Fed's decision to continue raising interest rates despite recent turmoil in the banking industry.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 37.50 points or 0.54 percent to 6,978.10, after hitting a low of 6,950.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 41.10 points or 0.57 percent to 7,159.60. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are declining almost 4 percent each. OZ Minerals is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is edging up 0.2 percent. In the tech space, Appen and Zip are losing almost 3 percent each, while Xero is down almost 2 percent, WiseTech Global is slipping almost 1 percent and Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each. Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 2 percent, Evolution Mining is adding more than 2 percent, Newcrest Mining is up more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is edging up 0.5 percent, while Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.673 on Thursday.

The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Thursday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying a tad above the 27,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with losses across most sectors, led by financial stocks, as traders reacted to the US Fed's decision to continue raising interest rates despite recent turmoil in the banking industry.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 27,400.37, down 66.24 points or 0.24 percent, after hitting a low of 27,175.63 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent and Honda is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings, Tokyo Electron and Advantest are gaining more than 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing more than 2 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are declining almost 2 percent each. Among the major exporters, Panasonic and Sony are losing almost 2 percent each, while Canon is declining almost 1 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is flat.

Among the other major losers, T&D Holdings, Concordia Financial and Dai-ichi Life are losing more than 3 percent each, while Eisai and Rakuten Group are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Recruit Holdings is gaining almost 5 percent and Ebara is adding almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 130 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, , New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia are lower by between 0.2 and 0.3 percent each, while Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are higher by between 0.1 and 0.8 percent each. China is relatively flat. Indonesia is closed for the Saka New Year holiday. On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the session on Friday before coming under pressure in the final hour of trading. The major averages all moved sharply lower, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq pulling back after reaching its best intraday level in over a month.

The major averages finished the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 530.49 points or 1.6 percent to 32,030.11, the Nasdaq tumbled 190.15 points or 1.6 percent to 11,669.96 and the S&P 500 dove 65.90 points or 1.7 percent to 3,936.97.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday after data showed that crude inventories rose by 1.117 million barrels last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $70.90 a barrel, gaining $1.23 or 1.8 percent.