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
Japan’s Nikkei led losses in Asia-Pacific markets Thursday, as the country resumed trading after an extended New Year’s holiday during which it witnessed an earthquake and a collision at Tokyo’s Haneda airport involving Japan Airlines.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.93%, while the broader Topix edged up 0.18% as Japan kicks off its first day of trade in 2024.
Markets in Asia also took cues from global stocks after minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting in December showed interest rate cuts were likely in 2024, but provided little clarity on when that might happen.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.74%, and the small-cap Kosdaq was lower by 0.73%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 retreated further from Wednesday, losing 0.3%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat, while China’s CSI 300 index dipped 0.17% at open.
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