Today, stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) are down sharply after the publication of the minutes of the March meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve, which showed that the U.S. central bank is ready to fight inflation more aggressively.

“Hawkish” intentions of the Fed complicate the decision-making process for investors amid the conflict in Ukraine, coronavirus outbreak in China and rising inflation, MarketWatch notes.

In particular, Fed leaders have signaled a willingness to start reducing assets on the central bank’s balance sheet, which has reached $8.9 trillion, by $95 billion a month, minutes of the March 15-16 meeting show. In 2017-2019, the Fed sold assets at a more moderate pace of $50 billion a month. It is expected that the Fed may agree on an asset sales program as early as the May meeting.

In addition, many members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) believe that a rate hike of 50 basis points at once at one or more upcoming meetings will be justified if US inflation does not start to decline.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell by 1.24% by 8:46 Moscow time, while Shanghai Composite fell by 1.24%.

Leading the decline among the components of the Hong Kong index are shares of biopharmaceutical company Wuxi Biologics Inc. (-6.1%), brewery Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd. (-5.7%), restaurant chain owner Haidilao International Holding Ltd. (-4.7%), energy ENN Energy Holdings Ltd. (-4.2%) and electronics maker Techtronic Industries (HK:0669) Co. Ltd. (-3.6%).

Shares of internet company JD.com Inc. (SPB: NASDAQ:JD) are getting cheaper by 3.4%. The company has appointed President Lei Xu as chief executive officer. He will succeed JD founder Richard Liu.

Japan’s Nikkei was down 1.57% by 8:40 Moscow time.

The biggest declines in the Japanese index are in the capitalization of semiconductor component makers Advantest Corp. (T:6857) (-5.7%) and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (T:8035) (-5.4%), steelmakers Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Ltd. (-5%) and Pacific Metals Co. Ltd. (-4.6%), electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. (-4.3%) and automaker Honda Motor Co (T:7267). Ltd. (-4.1%).

South Korea’s Kospi was down 1.26% by 9:00 Moscow time by 9:00 Moscow time.

The share price of electronics maker LG Corp. is down 2.1%, while its rival Samsung Electronics Co. (KS:005930) is down 0.6%. Meanwhile, Samsung released its financial outlook for the first quarter, according to which it expects revenue growth of 17.8% and operating profit growth of 50.3%, which is better than the expectations of FactSet analysts.

Shares of automaker Kia Corp. (KS:000270) are up 0.3%, while Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. (KS:005380) is down 0.3%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.63% by 9:00.

Australia’s foreign trade surplus totaled A$7.465 billion ($5.61 billion) in February, down $4.33 billion from January, Australian Statistics Authority data released Thursday showed. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected a surplus of $12 billion. Imports the month before last jumped 12% from January, while exports rose just 0.2%.

The capitalization of mining BHP Group Ltd. fell by 0.4%, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd. by 0.2%.