Asian stock markets close Wednesday in negative territory

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Asian stock markets ended the midweek with losses amid global inflationary concerns.

After a report showed a higher-than-expected US inflation figure of 8.3% in August, markets forecast a tougher stance from the Federal Reserve.

Economic concerns in China and Japan's weak yen are also on investors' agenda.

In Japan, the Bank of Japan carried out a rate check on Wednesday, which is a precursor to intervention for the direct market action after the USD/JPY parity hit 145 level.

By conducting a rate check, the bank asks information on US dollar/Japanese yen rates from market actors.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, dropped 69.63 points, or 2.22%, to reach 3,069.06.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange decreased 796.01 points, or 2.78%, to close at 27,818.62.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, was down 479.76 points, or 2.48%, to 18,847.10.

China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange fell by 26.26 points, or 0.80%, to close at 3,237.54.

The Indian Sensex benchmark lost 224.11 points, or 0.37%, to end the day at 60,346.97.

The Singapore index dropped 32.06 points, or 0.97%, to finish at 3,258.02.