Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney fell while Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices edged lower but stayed above US$115 per barrel.
“Pain is being inflicted almost everywhere and sharing doesn’t make it better in any way,” said Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank in a report. The benchmark gave up its 1.5% gain of the previous day after the Fed announced a rate hike of 0.75 percentage points, three times is usual margin. Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the Fed is “not trying to induce a recession now."