Customers dine at Izakaya restaurants in the Ameyoko shopping street on July 27, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. Japan’s core consumer price index climbed by 3.3% in June, outpacing the US figure for the first time in eight years.
Tomohiro Ohsumi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets fell Thursday, led by Japan as the country resumed trading after an extended New Year’s holiday during which it witnessed an earthquake that has claimed at least 65 lives and a collision at Tokyo’s Haneda airport involving Japan Airlines.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.26% on its open, while the Topix also slid 1.25% as Japan kicks off its first day of trade in 2024.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.64%, and the small-cap Kosdaq was lower by 0.69%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 retreated further from Wednesday, losing 0.5% in early trade.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures stood at 16,755, pointing to a rebound compared to the HSI’s close of 16,646.41.
On Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes lost ground after the Fed minutes revealed officials concluded that interest rate cuts were likely in 2024, though they appeared to provide little in the way of when that might occur.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.76%, while the broad-market S&P500 lost 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.18%, marking its fourth consecutive losing day.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Samantha Subin contributed to this report