Asian Shares Fall On Hawkish Fed Minutes, US-China Tensions

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks declined on Thursday, with hawkish Fed meeting minutes and lingering U.S.-China tensions keeping investors nervous.

The dollar consolidated gains and Treasury yields rose after the Federal Reserve's June meeting minutes showed policymakers anticipate two more interest- rate hikes in 2023 to bring inflation back down.

Gold was a tad higher in Asian trade, while oil prices slipped on concerns about China's lackluster economic recovery.

Chinese shares ended lower as investors waited to see what does U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's visit means for China-U.S. relations. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.54 percent to 3,205.57.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slumped 3.02 percent to 18,533.05 on heavy selling of Chinese banking shares.

Japanese stocks tumbled to end at over one-week low, with chip-related firms coming under selling pressure.

The Nikkei average fell 1.70 percent to 32,773.02, marking its lowest close since June 27. The broader Topix index ended 1.26 percent lower at 2,277.08.

Advantest, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron lost 2-4 percent after the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index dropped more than 2 percent overnight.

Socionext shares plummeted 22.8 percent after its biggest shareholders sold their entire stake in the chip designer.

Seoul stocks fell notably to extend losses for a third day running. The Kospi average shed 0.88 percent to finish at 2,556.29 as China's exports curbs announcement hit tech stocks. Chip giant SK Hynix gave up 2.5 percent.

On the positive side, Internet portal provider Naver jumped 4.8 percent and platform giant Kakao surged 4.2 percent.

Australian markets ended sharply lower as tumbling iron ore prices on the back weak Chinese data pulled down mining stocks. BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group lost 1-2 percent.

The big banks also fell 1-2 percent, while Magellan Financial plummeted 8.3 percent after disclosing $2.1 billion in net outflows for the month of June.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.24 percent to 7,163.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index settled 1.18 percent lower at 7,365.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index ended down 0.36 percent at 11,959.33.

U.S. stocks fell overnight as the June FOMC minutes confirmed a hawkish hold stance and data showed new orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose less than expected in May.

The Fed minutes showed that board members expect more rate hikes, but at a slower pace.

The Dow dipped 0.4 percent, while the S&P 500 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both eased around 0.2 percent.