SINGAPORE : Asian shares slid to nine-month lows on Thursday, while the dollar was at two-month peak as fears over China's sluggish economic recovery and concerns that the Federal Reserve may still raise interest rates rattled investors.
China's blue-chip CSI 300 Index was 0.45 per cent lower, while the Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.7 per cent and was at near nine month lows. Adding to the worrying landscape for the world's second biggest economy is the deepening property sector crisis. Missed payments on investment products by a leading Chinese trust firm and a fall in home prices have enhanced the gloom.
The U.S. central bank hiked rates by 25 basis points at the July meeting after standing pat in June. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at the time the economy still needed to slow and the labor market to weaken for inflation to"credibly" return to the U.S. central bank's 2 per cent target. Markets are pricing in an 86 per cent chance of the Fed standing pat next month, CME FedWatch tool showed, with a 36 per cent chance of it hiking in its November meeting.