Asia-Pacific markets broadly fell on Thursday as investors reacted to an overnight update from the U.S. Federal Reserve that indicated the central bank plans to raise interest rates as soon as March.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stumbled 841.03 points, or 3.1%, to 26.170.30. Elsewhere, the Japanese yen traded at 114.84 per U.S. dollar, weakening from an earlier level around 114.45,
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong let go of 482.9 points, or 2%, to 23,807.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-listed shares of major Chinese tech names dropped sharply. Alibaba shares fell 7.2%, JD was down 3.5%, Meituan fell 6.9%, Baidu was down 4% and Tencent lost 2.2%. Chinese video platform Bilibili also plunged 9.9%.
In South Korea, shares of Samsung Electronics fell 2.7% after the company reported a 53% jump in operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the year before, but it was down 12% from the previous three months.
The global chipmaker said its money-making memory business expects server demand to grow in 2022 as companies increase their investments into information technology, but supply chain issues are set to persist.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s military said that North Korea fired what appears to be two ballistic missiles on Thursday, Reuters reported. The reclusive state has conducted six missile tests this month.
Block shares trading in Australia also fell 5.35% following a report that Apple is planning to allow merchants to receive payments with a phone tap instead of using hardware attachments like those produced by Square.
Block is founded and led by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and was formerly called Square.
The Australian dollar fell 0.6% to $0.7071.
In other markets
Taiwan markets were shuttered for holiday.
In China, the CSI 300 declined 92.43 points, or 2%, to 4,619.88.
In Korea, the Kospi index doffed 94.75 points, or 3.5%, to 2,614/49.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index sank 11.54 points, or 0.4%, to 3,260.03.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 blundered 135.33 points, or 1.1%, to 12,050.32.
In Australia, markets returned from holiday with the ASX 200 fallng 123.34 points, or 1.8%, to 6,838.28.
