Asia-Pacific markets dipped on Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average touch a new closing low for the year.
The Federal Reserve held its key policy rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75%, with Chair Jerome Powell watering down rate-cut expectations, saying that inflation was not coming down as much as ‘hoped.’
The producer price index — which tracks the change in wholesale prices — rose 0.7% in February, well above the 0.3% that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated.
Despite that, the U.S. central bank's "dot plot" still projects a cut in 2026 and another in 2027, even though the timing is unclear.
The Iran war continues to fuel energy worries. International benchmark Brent crude futures were last up 6.12% at $113.97 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures were trading 1.08% higher at $97.36 per barrel.
Investors in Asia also weighed the Bank of Japan rate decision, with the bank expectedly holding rates at 0.75%.
South Korea's Kospi lost 2.73% to close at 5,763.22, ending a streak of three winning sessions after being the top gainer in the region on Wednesday, while the small-cap Kosdaq saw a smaller loss of 1.79%, finishing at 1,143.48.
Chip heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix saw losses of 3.84% and 4.07% respectively.
The South Korean won briefly broke past the 1,500 mark against the dollar earlier in the session, prompting finance minister Koo Yun-cheol to say on Wednesday that authorities have a "heightened sense of vigilance toward the foreign exchange market," according to South Korean media.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 3.38% to 53,372.53, leading losses in Asia, while the broad-based Topix was 2.91% lower at 3,609.4.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.65% to end at 8,497.8, hitting its lowest level since Nov. 2025.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.04% in its last hour of trade, while mainland China's CSI 300 index fell 1.61% to 4,583.25.
India's Nifty 50 plunged 2.43%, along with the BSE Sensex, which declined 2.2%.
Shares of India's HDFC Bank slid 5% Thursday after Atanu Chakraborty, its part‑time chairman, resigned after flagging governance and ethical concerns within the institution.
Overnight in the U.S., the 30-stock Dow lost 1.63%, ending at 46,225.15, reaching a new low this year. The index also closed below its 200-day moving average.
The S&P 500 fell 1.36%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.46%.
—CNBC's Sean Conlon, Pia Singh and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.