Today stock indices of the largest countries of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) are declining following the collapse on Wall Street the previous day.

U.S. indices ended Thursday’s trading with a 3-5% drop, a record for more than a year, amid rethinking of the results of the May meeting of the Federal Reserve, following which the regulator raised the rate by 50 basis points for the first time since 2000.

Investors are assessing the likelihood that the Fed will be able to slow inflation to a 40-year high while not causing a recession in the U.S. economy.

“Obviously, investors are having doubts about the so-called ‘dovish raising’ of the Fed Funds rate,” said ING analyst Rob Carnell. – There is a possibility that rates will be raised quickly and significantly, but inflation will not fall in the foreseeable future”.

Additional pressure on market sentiment is exerted by events in Ukraine and global problems in supply chains.

China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 1.7% by 8:45 Moscow time, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 3.55%.

The Central Bank of Hong Kong on the eve increased the key interest rate by 50 basis points, to 1.25%, amid fears of further decline in the national currency due to capital outflows, writes Trading Economics.

Today it became known that retail sales in Hong Kong in March fell by 16.8%. The decline in the indicator is recorded for the second month in a row.

Shares of Alibaba Holdings are cheaper by 6.7%, Internet companies Tencent and Meituan – by 4.5% and 4.4%, respectively.

On the mainland Chinese stock exchanges, securities of Hangzhou Hikvision (-9.8%), East Money (-4%), CNOOC Ltd (-2.2%) and Kweichow Moutai (-2.9%) show a sharp fall.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up 0.6% by 8:40 Moscow time. The Japanese stock exchange resumed work after a three-day weekend.

Shares of Japanese technology companies are declining following their U.S. rivals. Shares of Lasertec are getting cheaper by 5.4%, SoftBank Group – by 2.2%, Rakuten Group – by 4.9%. The securities of consumer and health care sector companies are also trading in the negative.

Meanwhile, Japanese “blue chips” are mainly growing on the news that the country’s authorities intend to relax measures to control the movement of persons, introduced amid the outbreak of coronavirus. Toyota Motor (1.9%), Mitsui OSK (1.1%), Tokyo Electric (8.6%), Mitsui & Co (5.8%), Komatsu (8.3%) and Inpex Corp (4.9%) are showing significant growth.

South Korea’s Kospi index was down 1.2% by 9:00 Moscow time.

The market value of Samsung Electronics Co., one of the world’s largest chip makers, fell 1.8%, while automaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.5%.

Australian index S&P/ASX 200 by 8:59 Moscow time fell by 2.19%.

Shares of Australian technology companies are trading down, including Xero Ltd (-5.6%), Block Inc (-2.4%) and Seek Ltd (-5.2%).

The mining sector is also in the red zone due to lower commodity prices. The securities of leading mining companies BHP Group and Rio Tinto cheapen by 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively, quotations of oil and gas giants Woodside Petroleum and Santos Ltd fall by 1.7% and 1.6%.

Macquarie Group’s share price collapsed by 7.7% after the financial conglomerate reported a 56% rise in profits last fiscal year, but warned of a decline in the performance of its commodities trading division in the current reporting period.