Investing.com - Asian markets were mostly lower in afternoon trade on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve officials indicated the central bank is staying the course on rate hikes.
"Participants generally anticipated that further gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate would most likely be consistent with a sustained economic expansion, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near 2 percent over the medium term," the minutes read.
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite and the SZSE Component fell 2.2% and 1.6% respectively by 1:40 AM ET (05:40 GMT).
The U.S. Treasury Department said in its semi-annual currency report that China did not meet the criteria to be named a currency manipulator.
The Treasury Department refused to label China or any other trading partner of the U.S. as currency manipulators, but added that Beijing and some other countries including Germany, Japan and India have been put on a watch list.
"The Treasury Department is working vigorously to ensure that our trading partners dismantle unfair barriers that stand in the way of free, fair, and reciprocal trade. Of particular concern are China's lack of currency transparency and the recent weakness in its currency. These pose major challenges to achieving fairer and more balanced trade, and we will continue to monitor and review China's currency practices, including through discussions with the People's Bank of China," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also slid 0.6%.
Shares of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp Class H (HK:0386) (Sinopec) dropped 3.39% in Hong Kong on Thursday even after the company announced that it expected significant profit increases for the first nine months of the year.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the company said it expects profits attributable to shareholders to the end of September to increase between 54.7% and 56.6% to RMB21 billion to RMB21.7 billion.
The company said that increased profits were driven by increases in oil prices and improvements in its upstream business.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.8% after data from the Ministry of Finance showed the country’s exports fell 1.2% in September from a year earlier, compared with a 1.9% gain expected by analysts and a 6.6% gain in August.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI traded 0.9% lower. The Bank of Korea kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 1.5% on Thursday as expected but expressed concerns about the country’s household debt and financial stability.
"(Lee's press conference) was more hawkish than markets had expected. Lee said many times that its time to focus on financial stability now that growth rate is nearing the nation's potential level, and inflation is reaching the target level," said Park Sung-woo, a fixed-income analyst at Heungkuk Securities.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 inched up 0.1%.