Asian stocks mixed at Thursday's close

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) — Asian indices closed the fourth transaction day of the week with mixed figures, amid declining global risk appetite as hawkish steps by the US Fed stoked fears of recession.

Asian central banks continued surprising markets, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raising the policy rate 50 basis points on Wednesday, despite expectations for a 25-basis-point hike, while on Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India left its policy rate unchanged at 6.50% despite projections that it would also announce an increase of 25 basis points.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, dropped 0.74% to 3,384.77 points as of 1128 GMT.

While the selling pressure on Japanese bonds slowed, the country's 10-year bond yield stood at 0.47%.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1.22% to close at 27,472.63 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong exchange, earned 0.28%, rising to 20,331.20 points.

According to the data released in China on Thursday, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the services sector rose to 57.8.

China's Shanghai Stock Exchange was flat at 3,312.63.

India's Sensex index went up 0.24% to close at 59,832.97.

The Singapore index dropped 0.55% to end the day at 3,300.48 points.