Asian shares decline after retreats on Wall Street, Europe

BANGKOK, Dec. 16 (BNA): Asian stocks followed Wall Street and Europe lower on Friday, with markets nervous about the risk that the Federal Reserve and other central banks could end up bringing recessions to control inflation.

US oil and futures prices rose. China’s move to ease coronavirus restrictions has raised hopes of an end to the massive disruptions caused by lockdowns and other strict infection prevention measures.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1% to 19,395.84, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.4%, to 3,157.58.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 2% to 27,498.14 after a survey of manufacturers showed a further contraction in production.

The preliminary reading of the Factory PMI put manufacturing at 48.8, down from 49.0 in November, on a 0-100 scale where 50 denotes the break between contraction and expansion.

Seoul’s Kospi Index lost 0.4% to 2,349.92, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8%, to 7,148.70.

Shares in Taiwan fell 1.4% and the SET index in Bangkok lost 0.4%. Mumbai fell 1.4%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 2.5% to 3,895.75, reversing gains from early in the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 3.2% to 10,810.53 and the Dow Jones fell 2.2%, to 33,202.22.

The Russell 2000 Index fell 2.5% to 1,774.61.

European stocks fell sharply, with Germany’s DAX down 3.3%.

Like the Federal Reserve, European central bank officials have said inflation has not yet abated and more rate hikes are coming.

The Federal Reserve raised the short-term interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, its seventh increase this year.

Europe’s central banks followed suit on Thursday, with the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank all raising their key lending rate by half a point on Thursday.

In other trading on Friday, US benchmark crude oil lost 25 cents to $75.86 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.17 on Thursday to $76.11 a barrel.

Brent crude, the basis for pricing international trade, fell 24 cents to $80.97 a barrel.

The dollar fell to 137.36 yen from 137.81 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0431 from $1.0627.

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