By Tuba Sahin
ISTANBUL (AA) – Most major Asian stock markets closed in negative territory on Thursday as a hotter-than-expected US inflation reading fueled expectations for more aggressive Federal Reserve tightening.
US annual consumer inflation rose 9.1% in June, higher than the market expectation of 8.8% and the largest 12-month increase since November 1981, according to the US Labor Department.
The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, lost 15.5 points, or 0.49%, to slip to 3,140 by 0935GMT on Thursday.
The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, fell by 46.7 points, or 0.22%, to 20,751.
China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange dropped slightly by 2.55 points, or 0.08%, to 3,281.
The offshore yuan weakened to its lowest level in nearly a month, driven by heightened expectations of a possible 100 basis points interest rate hike by the Fed in July and resurgent COVID-19 outbreaks in the mainland China.
India’s Sensex benchmark fell by 210.5 points, or 0.39%, to close at 53,304, while the Singapore index shed 38 points, or 1.22%, to 3,091.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225, on the other hand, gained 164.6 points, or 0.62%, to close at 26,643.
Japan’s industrial production fell 7.5% month-on-month in May, below market forecast, according to government data released on Thursday.
With the monetary policy gap between the Japanese and US central bans expected to widen, the Japanese yen plunged to its lowest level against the US dollar since 1998 on Thursday.