Asian stock markets mixed at Thursday's close

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Asian stock markets exhibited a mixed course on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hike of 75 basis points to the range of 1.50-1.75% -- the steepest increase since 1994.

The Fed revised its year-end inflation forecast from 4.3% to 5.2%.

Another interest rate boost of 50 or 75 basis points is likely to come out of the central bank's next meeting, as well, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said after the decision, adding that the pace would continue to depend on incoming data and the developing outlook of the economy.

The Bank of England (BoE) also raised rates on Thursday by 25 basis points to 1.25% as inflation hit a 40-year high of 9% in April. This was the bank's fifth rate hike in a row.

Risk appetites in global stock markets tend to rise when there is less monetary policy-related uncertainty and more determination to fight inflation, with the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) upcoming decision on Friday also expected to impact the direction of markets.

Japan's Nikkei 225 and Korea's Kospi indices closed up 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, while China's Shanghai Stock Exchange was down 0.6% at the end of the day.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, went down 462.78 points or 2.17% to 20,845.