Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Thursday, following Wall Street’s reaction overnight after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked rates by another 25 basis points. Regional bank stocks in the U.S. also fell after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in response to a question that officials are not considering a ‘blanket insurance’ for bank deposits.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 47 points, or 0.2%, to 27,419.61.
Toshiba’s board has to accept a takeover offer of two trillion yen ($15.3 billion U.S.) from a coalition of roughly 20 companies including Japan Industrial Partners, Nikkei reported.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index climbed 458.21 points, or 2.3%, to 20,049.64, mainly due to gains by tech giant Tencent.
The Japanese yen strengthened by 0.6% in Asia’s afternoon and traded at 130.7 against the U.S. dollar.
The Australian dollar also saw strengthening of more than 0.8% to 0.6738 against the U.S. dollar.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 gained 39.65 points, or 1%, to 4,039.09.
In Singapore, the Straits Times lost 1.98 points, or 0.1%, to 3,219.
In Taiwan, the Taiex gained 103.49 points, or 0.7%, to 15,863.95.
In Korea, the Kospi added 7.52 points, or 0.3%, to 2,424.48.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 picked up 8.01 points, or 0.1%, to 11,594.94.
In Australia, the ASX 200 dropped 46.98 points, or 0.7%, to 6,968.61.
